School dress codes have gotten more and more controversial in recent years, with students getting in trouble for everything from wearing leggings to what kind of prom dress they choose. But recently in Bradenton, Florida, a 17-year-old student found herself in hot water despite the fact that she was wearing pants and long sleeves. Lizzy Martinez says she was called to the dean's office because other students noticed she wasn't wearing a bra, and the way her school handled it has people appalled.
Martinez's mom, Kari Knop, unleashed a firestorm on Facebook after she got a call from the Braden River High School dean last week.
According to BuzzFeed, Martinez was pulled out of her fifth period class on April 2 because a few classmates were "laughing" at and "distracted" by the outline of her nipples under her dark gray shirt. Knop wrote on Facebook that she was asked to bring her daughter a second shirt to wear over the one she had on, and then a female dean allegedly made her daughter stand up and move around to judge "how much her breasts bounced." Finally, BuzzFeed reports, the humiliated teen was asked to place Band-Aids over her nipples to keep them from protruding.
The outraged mom shared a photo of the shirt her daughter was wearing and noted that undergarments aren't listed in the school's official dress code.
"Had the dean been a male, the bouncing boob request would have been HIGHLY inappropriate and given the culture we live in, I don't find this request to be acceptable by either sex, as they all could and should be viewed as predatory," she added. "Instead of shaming a kid, why not teach people to look at one's face instead of chest? PROBLEM WOULD BE SOLVED!!!"
Knop's post quickly went viral, but things only got worse from there. On Thursday, April 4, the mom posted an update stating that she met with the school principal, the dean involved in the incident, and the school nurse, who claimed they were only trying to protect her daughter from ridicule, despite the fact that the classmates picking on Martinez reportedly didn't face any consequences.
"The principal did state that the request to bandaid her nipples should have never happened. But the rest of it was excuse after excuse," she wrote. "Kids talking about Lizzy's boobs and cackling about them bouncing around was NEVER addressed … I am sorry, but I consider that to be in the category of bullying, which they ALLEGEDLY have zero tolerance for."
Lizzy Martinez tried to share her side of the story on Twitter, but later reported that she was blocked by her school's Twitter account.
School officials have yet to comment on why this happened, but the move only added fuel to the fire for dozens of people online who were furious on Martinez's behalf.
People on Twitter pointed out that what happened to Martinez would likely never happen to a male student.
As with so many so-called dress code violations, they see what happened at Braden River High School as unfair policing of girls' bodies.
Others pointed out that even with a bra, it's still possible for someone's nipples to show.
Sports bras, bralettes, and even just unpadded bras will show the outline of nipples. And girls who have small breasts that don't require a bra or who are too young to wear bras may have visible nipple outlines on their shirts as well. Are they going to get in trouble for dress code violations too?
But, of course, trolls also showed up to shame the teen for going braless and say she deserved her punishment.
"When you go into the real world, you're going to have far stricter dress codes than 'don't show your nipples,'" another person tweeted. "Are you going to protest those dress codes, too?"
Others seemed to blame her mom for not insisting she wear a bra to school.
Apparently long sleeve shirts are the latest in "inappropriate" clothing.
Even on Knop's Facebook posts, people showed up to blast a 17-year-old girl.
Knop wrote in a third Facebook post on April 4 that she spoke with Superintendent Diana Greene, who agreed with her that the situation was handled incorrectly, but also said Martinez going braless is considered a "distraction," which is prohibited under the school dress code.
In a statement provided to BuzzFeed, Mitchell Teitelbaum, the district's general counsel, explained the district's official stance by saying it's "undisputed that this matter should have been handled differently at the school level." But he noted, "There was a violation of the School Dress Code and it was an appropriate matter to address by the School. It is clear the intent of school officials was to assist the student in addressing the situation."
Martinez hasn't returned to school yet because she feels uncomfortable going back to class with the people who humiliated her.
But the determined teen is reportedly organizing a protest to fight the "backwards" dress code and stand up for other girls. "It's very uncomfortable for people to talk about, but this is a big issue that a lot of girls feel targeted and sexualized and have to live up to a standard of what we have to look like and wear," she told BuzzFeed. "So I'm just going out and putting myself out there and starting this conversation because we obviously still need to have it."
