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22nd Sep 2017

School requires students to show dress photos to get prom tickets

Sigh.

Anna O'Rourke

Yes, really.

A high school in the US is requiring its students to send in photos of their dresses before the event.

Anyone planning to attend the homecoming dance at Pewaukee High School in Wisconsin wearing a dress will have to show what the dress looks like, front and back, before being able to buy tickets.

“We are requiring all dress-wearing students or non-PHS guests to provide a picture of themselves in their homecoming attire prior to purchasing a ticket to the dance,” the school said in a note to parents.

The policy has been in place since 2015 and aims to stop girls being turned away on the night, reports ABC.

“It’s really out of a sensitivity to our students,” said Pewaukee School District Superintendent Mike Cady.

“We want (school dances) to be a positive experience. We don’t want anyone to show up and have to be sent home because of a dress-code violation.

The policy also includes rules that look to be aimed at male students, such as a ban on low-riding pants that reveal a student’s underwear, he added.

It hasn’t gone down well with everyone in the school community though.

“I think the fact that we have to submit a photo of ourselves wearing it front and back is a little bit creepy to me, said Nicole Stark, a student at the school.

“The girls are essentially being held responsible for the wayward thoughts (administrators) think boys have,” one parent, Rebecca Sheperd, told Journal Sentinel.

“They’re being told, ‘You are the problem,’ ” she said. “These are the roots of rape culture, frankly.”

But not all of the students take issue with the dress code.

“It makes sense as to why you wouldn’t want students coming to dances in things that could be too provocative,” Calista Bulacan, a student, told ABC.