The mom of a sixth-grade boy has made waves for fighting a “sexist” school pool party dress code. Jennifer Smith of Indianapolis was shocked when her son brought home a permission slip for the Rhoades Elementary class event and saw what it said girls had to wear to attend.
“All girls must wear a non-white T-shirt over their swimsuit,” the instructions read.
Smith sent back the slip with a stern note scribbled underneath. “I will not let my child participate in any activity that promotes girls’ body shaming,” she wrote to school officials. She said that even though she doesn’t have a daughter, she was outraged by the rule all the same.
“Being a feminist and seeing things through that filter, I was just kind of enraged by that,” Smith told the Huffington Post. "They're saying little girls need to be ashamed of their bodies and cover themselves up. I have a little boy, I'm teaching him to think correctly, and this is contrary to what I'm teaching him.” Speedos for boys were also prohibited.
Because this mom had the courage to speak up, the school actually listened to her. And after a series of phone calls and emails between Smith and the principal and superintendent, dropping the girls’ dress code before the May 18 swim party and making T-shirts optional instead.
School and district officials explained the policy was put in place because inappropriate dress had been a problem at the event in the past. They also wanted to give parents who didn’t have the money to buy their kids a new bathing suit another option.
"We know that for many of our families, buying an extra [one-piece] swimsuit for their children would be a luxury they cannot afford," a district spokesperson told HuffPost. "We believed asking the girls to wear T-shirts over their swimsuits was the solution that addressed the issue most sensitively."
Smith’s son said not a single girl at the party this past Monday wore a shirt over her bathing suit.
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