Girls Finally Allowed To Wear Pants To School (In 2010, In The UK)… Maybe

The bane of my existence, the female school uniform, might just be illegal in the UK.

Forcing transgender girls to dress in skirts runs afoul of equality and human rights legislation, meaning that schools can’t force any girls into the soul sucking plaid.

Perhaps this clothing item will end up where it belongs, in history books and porn.

“Pupils born female with gender dysphoria experienced great discomfort being forced to wear stereotypical girls’ clothes — for example a skirt,” said the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission.

“Uniform is a key issue for young trans people at schools. Many schools have strict uniform codes where boys and girls are required to wear particular clothes, for example, girls cannot wear trousers.”

Of course, these guidelines totally ignore the “great discomfort” that transgender boys might feel. Can you imagine how Sir Anthony Snodgrass would feel sending his son to school in a skirt?

But this is great for all girls forced into pleats. Those of you who choose to wear the skirts don’t understand the horror they inflict on those forced to wear it, day in and day out.

The worst thing it does is impede your movement. You have to walk and sit a certain way to avoid flashing your undies to teenage boys (a very unpleasant experience). Forget running and jumping, both are entirely out.

When I was in school many of the girls wore bike shorts under their skirts. All that did was protect us from the errant gust of wind because while flashing the bike shorts is not as bad as panties, it can still subject a teenage girl to weeks of ridicule.

As one of the few girls with no shame, I would wantonly flash my bike shorts in order to run around. This meant that I was constantly being taken aside by teachers who expected me to die of embarrassment when they informed me that people could see up my skirt. (Did I mention the giant and obvious black bicycle shorts I was exposing?)

Elementary students have it just as bad. A common playground game has kids running around flipping up girls’ skirts. Fun for all, especially the girls, who learn early on that they are the victims.  The boys never have to worry but the girls must constantly be on alert. What a wonderful lesson to teach kids about the world.

(If you went to a school without uniforms you might think I’m making this up, but ask your private school friends about it. Guaranteed they flipped their fair share of skirts in their time.)

When I got into high school the teachers were casual enough to allow us to come to school every day in our PE strip (t-shirts and track pants). Most of the girls never wore their skirts again.

These uniforms made sense when all men wore was pants and all women wore was skirts, but those days have been over for close to a century. Why have schools been so hesitant to update their uniforms along with their curriculum?

Could it be that they secretly they aspire to graduate a class of genteel ladies?

Don’t they know that well behaved women never make history?