School Principal Tommy Hodges also enjoys a bit of āBDSMā with Mrs. School Principal Tommy Hodges.
Creepā¦
When I was in high school (20 years ago), this was explicitly part of the dress code: skirt/short length (for both boys and girls) was specifically listed as the height above the knee when kneeling. I donāt know how often that kneeling test was actually applied vs just eyeballing it, but that was the letter of the rule. I always thought it was sort of weird, but not newsworthy-weird. Iām not so sure how I feel about it now, but Iād wager that this guy is either in a school district with the same rule or himself went to a school with that rule (so believed that test to be the norm). The rule may be stupid, but painting the guy as some sort of deviant seems disingenuous.
Thatās actually how the girlās vice principal did it when I was in high school back in the mid 1970s. Iāve seen photos of principals checking for dress code violations from the late 50s like that too.
Her parents were present and allowed this? HELL. NO.
Iām glad that I was in a liberal, open H.S. back in 1974-1978. I can imagine it is hard living as a teenager under The American Taliban.
BDSM is not creepy. Not really my scene, but I have several friends who are into it, and my wife and I have explored the scene both separately before we met and some together. Like every and all social scenes, BDSM does definitely have creepers. It itself is not creepy and most of the women and men and transpersons involved in it would excoriate this principleās behavior, so maybe not so accurate to associate him with them.
That said, I donāt think he was being creepy, I think he was being a jackass prude policing womenās clothing. BUT, he was and is (probably unintentionally) perpetuating rape culture by perpetuating the belief that women and girls are responsible for how theyāre treated based on how revealing their clothing is, when in fact itās society (including men and other women and even high school principles) who are responsible for treating women and girls with respect regardless of skirt length. And in that Tommy Hodges failed miserably. Whatever dress code he enforces (and which he almost certainly had a hand in setting), thereās no excuse for treating a young lady as he treated Miss Durbin.
He should apologize for demeaning this young woman. But we live in a world where tools like him double down on their asinine behavior, so I donāt hold out much hope.
If the photo is her, I can eyeball the length at less than 6 inches. Seems like he had it out for this student for some reason.
Seriously. How was the conversation not:
Principal to student: āKneel down.ā
Parents to principal: āI hope you have a great attorney because youāre going to need one.ā
The way I see it, anybody can ask or tell my kids to do anything. Itās my kids responsibility to laugh in their faces when necessary.
If the principal thinks her skirt is too short, then he is not allowed to wear it.
Without consent, itās the very definition of creepy.
I dunno. Going to great lengths in enforcing stupid rules seems pretty deviant to me. And pretty shameful - like heās got nothing better to do with his time than bug students about skirt length.
Tommy knew what he was doing. Tommy knew EXACTLY what he was doing.
Fair enough. Youāre completely correct that creepy isnāt down to his intent; itās his actions that count. I stand corrected. What I mean is that even if he wasnāt demeaning her for his own twisted thrill, his actions and attitude bolster a culture of rape and victim-blaming.
That skirt is clearly above the knees, even without forcing her to assume a submissive and suggestive position.
And like someone else said, Mom and Dad were OK with this???
We need a 100% accurate and 100% reproducible method of measuring skirt length. She should have said āMy skin, underlying fascia, and 1/2 the diameter of my knee joint need to be subtracted from the measurement to be accurate, that is, if the definition is āsix inches above the knee,ā without further definition.ā But that may open another can of worms. āMary, your skirt may be too short. Iām sending you to get x-ray measurements.ā
From the picture, the young woman looks quite modestly dressed, IMO.
Way to police young womenās bodies and support the patriarchy, Principal A-hole.
I mean jeez, heās only following orders
My somewhat elderly high school history teacher 25 years ago described having to do this as school policy back in the '50s and '60s.
It was part of his speech on why dress codes are disgusting and dehumanizing and why he wanted no part in them.
Sheās wearing leggings, not tights, under that dress. So basically sheās wearing pants with a very long tunic. And as her parents pointed out, she could go to church in her outfit.
She also apparently drives to school, which means sheās old enough to drive a car, but not old enough to choose to wear a (parent-approved) dress with leggings.
I think every student in that school (male and female) should wear chadors in response.
