http://www2.townonline.com/bellingham/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=403379&format=text

What the fuck sort of High School allows girls to dress that way?

Not my kid, that's for damned sure.

Thats pretty tame from what i've seen these days. No cleavage or anything.

Most 6th Forms / Colleges of Further Education*? Granted up until then it's mostly school uniform only. Unless we were looking at different pictures...tomboyish girl? wooly hat?

*(about equivilent to the last 2 years of High School)

I'm looking at exposed midriff and waistline barely riding the pubic bone.

Do I live in some sort of S&G? In warmer weather, virtually every girl is dressed like that around these parts, so much so that it becomes the norm and there is nothing provocative about it. Doesn't seem that bad to me.

I hear they're showing their ankles in some parts these days too.

Har har.

Call me old fashioned, I guess, but I think midriffs are fine for the beach but not school hallways. If they want to dress that way on the weekends, that's up to them and their parents, I guess, but in school it seems inappropriate and even disrespectful.

::sigh::

I wish girls dressed like that when I went to high school. Of course, I'd probably have like 5 kids by now if they did.

yeah bionic, where we these girls back then? I had a hard enough time concentrating in high school, i can't imagine what these kids who see nothing but thongs all day do.

Get desensitized to it until it has the same effect as cutoff shorts did on me in High School, I guess.

"I wish girls dressed like that when I went to high school. Of course, I'd probably have like 5 kids by now if they did."

In a very short period of time you wouldn't even notice it. By the ankle commentary I meant that it's often the unseen that gets our attention, but if we see it everyday it loses its power very, very quickly. I have no doubt that in cultures were women keep their ankles hidden, seeing an ankle poking out of the getup at the club is a real turn-on, just as seeing a bit of belly (of the right type) in a belly-covered society is a turn-on...unless all of the girls are showing their belly, at which point it's probably the belly-covering girl that gets the attention.

Jack sez if all them boys look like that one, there's nothing to fear from the ladies showing a little skin.

Oh - Ok...that's pretty run of the mill at 6th form too.

Up until then most places insist on school uniform but once they've done GCSE exams they're allowed to leave education altogether.

No kidding, Phil. Also, what's the deal with all the cute girls riding public transportation nowadays? I didn't get a car until I was just about ready to graduate high school, so I used to ride busses all the time. Back then, however, I *never* ran into any cute girls at bus stops. Now I see them ALL THE TIME. I'm not sure if it's just a case of more girls riding public busses now due to parents being more permissive or something, or if I'm just noticing them more often because I'm a creepy old perv.

It's that last one, roach.

Don't feel bad, my hometown (the one I've just moved back to) is FULL of hot high school girls. It's so, so wrong.

Yeah, you're probably right Mark. Thank gods I still have some modicum of self control at this point. I feel sorry for my neighbor who's a teacher.

Warner, you're going to be having a lot of fights with your daughter, unless she's the serious intellectual type who doesn't care about clothes. You can only hope.

Thank god I have boys. Mine think it's cool to buy their clothes at Goodwill.

That's been trendy for 2 or 3 years now, I think.

Sarah right now is pretty booky, so with luck that trend will continue. :-)

That's what I was going to say -- if Mark's daughter thought a microscope was the coolest gift ever, there's hope for her yet!

In the ladies dept...

Your boys buy ladies clothes at Goodwill?

Well, to each their own...

Come on dudes, it's BELLIngham High School. They are REQUIRED to dress like that. Doh!

But you're OK with a man dressing like a woman, teaching your kids.

I just said to each their own, hoser.

Oh are we talking about dress codes? Well I'd have a problem with a man dressed as a woman with an exposed midriff teaching my kids, if that's what you're getting at.

Yeah, stomachs are just *wrong*. Save it for the hard core navel porn, girls! Seriously Mark, wtf?

I've never given a damn how other kids "dressed". They can run around buck naked for all I care. That's their thing. I expect children to behave immaturely.

I expect a helluva lot more from a teacher. They get paid to show up. And if they want to express their sexual preferences, they can do it somewhere else.

Whoopee. Girl show belly button. News @11.

As for budget, I give my kids $200 for clothes each year. Spend it on one pair of jeans if you like.

My daughter hates me.

I don't see how a man dressing in a sensible skirt and tasteful blouse is expressing a sexual preference. You seem to have unfounded assumptions as a basis for your thinking, hoser.

And even if they're valid assumptions (which they aren't), in what way is expressing a sexual preference a bad thing? WHat are you, 300 years old? Quick, put a cloth on the table -- the legs are inflaming my desires!

What she's wearing is nothing from what I've seen at a couple of high schools.

They're wearing thongs, showing cleavage and middriffs (including the oh-so-lovely fat rolls <cringes>), loose pajamas, underwear hanging out above their pants waistband, etc. Just amazing.

I would love to have a look ten years into the future seeing Mark fighting with his daughter about cloths.

Even more fun when the first boyfriends arrive - always much earlier then the father is prepared for, and definitely of the type daddy will disapprove the most.

Har har to Warner and his teenage daughter.

Hoser I think it's great that you don't mind if your teenage daughter runs around naked, but you become incensed at the thought of your daughter's male geography teacher wearing a dress.

That's great.

I think thats great too.... naked teenage girls = good, dudes wearing dresses = bad. Whats so hard to understand here?

Mostly the "dude wearing a dress = bad" part. *Why* is it bad? They're just freakin' clothes...

Have you see a man in a dress?

Mark, is that Pat Sajak?

Kids are different, Mat :)

Phil,

No, it's Dale.

> I'm looking at exposed midriff and waistline barely riding the pubic bone

Put a ahirt on, then.

As for that kind of thing on girls - it really has to be a nice looking wench in the first place to achieve the desired result, and in that case they don't need to show it anyway. All I see in the UK are flabby white guts that wouldn't be out of place on Buster Bloodvessel.

I'm fine with letting a man wear a skirt to class if the students are allowed to address him as "Mister Pussy".

Mark - you need to go visit the local mall more often. You'll see stuff that makes you ask: "Do their parents know they dress like this?" and "Why is a hooker shopping at The Gap?"

So, what's it like being a bigot, hoser?

What makes you a pussy, pussy?

Or, what problem have you got with the word pussy?

Im apparently unique in this thread, having no problem with *either* a man wearing a skirt, *or* a teenage girl flagrantly exposing her midriff to the world.


FWIW I often walk around downtown in the summer just wearing a pair of shorts as well.....

Heh, we are talking about "in school".

Moron :)

Could teenage girl wear sport-bra in school?

If not Id *love* to hear the conversation where the male teacher tells her off about it.

"umm, I was just looking at your...."

"lean forward a bit...I just want to check..."

"your boobs are looking especially bumpy today, are you aware we have rules regarding...."

Freedom of self expression. If you insist on expressing yourself in ways that one person would find extreme, then don't get offended when they express themselves in an equal and opposite extreme manner.

Tolerance, baby. Not just for the politally correct.

"If you insist on expressing yourself in ways that one person would find extreme"

Perhaps you could suggest an outfit that no one could possibly find extreme in any way?

For your personal use?

A plain burlap sack.

For most of our existence animal skins were de rigeur.

But your ar all pefectly correct about exposed midriffs drawing the elderly male eye/ire. Far, far too much "muffin top"

http://www.dyske.com/index.php?view_id=864

and nowhere near enough muff.

One is a student's peer engaging in behavior, that in my opinion says "use me, abuse me, whatever you want, come and get it".

Regardless of whether you find my opinion rational or otherwise is of no concern. I don't give a rip - she's a student, not a teacher. I've taught my kids that they can ignore what their peers say in typical fashion: "if ___ jumps off a bridge, will you follow her?"

So what the student does is moot in my opinion.

OTOH, I've taught them to repsect their teachers, right or wrong, they are in the position they are in for a reason. Even if they're difficult people. Even if they are jerks.

I expect the teacher to live up to that respect. Lest I be forced to change my view.

"A plain burlap sack"

I find that extremely ugly.

So, if you dressed in that, I could claim that you were 'insisting' on dressing yourself in something that I find extreme and badger you about it.

where is the tolerance?

"OTOH, I've taught them to repsect their teachers, right or wrong,"

interesting.


I expect the teacher to live up to that respect. Lest I be forced to change my view"

so you choose to put them on a pedestal, for your own reasons, and then you threaten them with "if you dont do what I want Ill take you off of this pedestal that I unilaterally chose to put you on"

Thats kind of like me choosing to give you a piece of chocolate everyday, regardless of whether you want it, and then threatening you with the withdrawal of that chocelate unless you behave as I dictate.

ie, its stupid.

Hey - I concede to your point of view. I already stated that.

If you want to dress like a pussy (self express yourself).

Then my kids will call you Mr. Pussy if they chose (their own self expression).

Harmony and balance are maintained.

"my kids will call you Mr. Pussy if they chose"

and Ill put their asses on detention, or have them suspended if I choose.

...and it will be your fault, because instead of teaching them to be tolerant and respectful of the choices others make, you have taught them to label any man doing anything they dont agree with, or dont understand, a pussy.

congratulations, youve ruined your children.

What's wrong with "Mr. Pussy"? What part of the word pussy do you find objectionable?

Sounds to me like you need some sensetivity training.

A boy's short in PE classes should not cover the knees.

And your employees can take off their shirts in your office.

COULD THEY?

"What part of the word pussy do you find objectionable?"

Thats not important is it? by your own post, so long as I find your action distasteful I have a right to call you names and publicly denigrate you.

Just out of interest, if I, as a teacher, happened to find the shirt that your son wears a little on the fruity side one day, are you happy that I call him a pussy?

And if I disapprove of the clothes your daughter wears, can I call her a slut? would you be tolerant of that?

Jesus, is your second name Gormsby by any chance?

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/tvone_story_skin/509060?format=html

Very funny show.

"so long as I find your action distasteful I have a right to call you names and publicly denigrate you."

So, then, you find the words pussy and slut offensive, but not the act of being one or acting it out in public?

"So, then, you find the words pussy and slut offensive, but not the act of being one or acting it out in public?"

exactly.

Calling people <label> for the specific purpose of causing them grief, is pretty much *always* offensive.

You very quickly learn that with babies (im surprised you haven't, if you really have kids)...its not the words themselves that matter, its the intention and the feeling behind them.

The fact you dont understand that helps me to understand you a little better.

I'm glad we understand each other.

Yes hoser, we understand that you're a pitiable idiot.

"I'm glad we understand each other."

heh. the main thing I now understand is that rather than trying to defend your 'my kids have a right to call you a pussy if they dont like your clothes' stance, you have decided to shift the focus to something rather less interesting....whether or not the word 'pussy' is offensive.

you go dude. nice to see someone willing to defend their position intelligently and coherently.

I understand that you're an easily victimized "pussy".

LOL. go on bitch, victimise me.

Ooh ooh victimize me, too! You must victimize ALL of us!

So ?off is a haven for those with masochistic tendencies. Who knew.

"Who knew."

?? who *didn't* know? if you dont *like* being called a simpering girly moron, colm, then why do you keep posting?

I think the irony in Colm's post wss readily apparent.

>if you dont *like* being called a simpering girly moron,
>colm, then why do you keep posting?

Cause it's funny :)

nah, that wasn't irony. that was stupidity.

No, THAT was stupidity :)

? thats what I said. it was stupidity.

Don't be so hard on yourself, JC. You're actually quite smart.

Mark

I'm a bit late with this thread, but have you ever seem the film "Thirteen" starring Holly Hunter?

Check it out. I was pretty shocked, but my step-daughter went through all the same stuff - that's no apology, but that's what the teens of today feel they need to do to be one with the *in* crowd.

Thank goodness my step-daughter has finally grown up. She and my wife now enjoy a *much* better relationship now that the peer group pressure is off. She can also now see through the mass market advertising that used to be such a driver toward looking a particular way, acting in a particular way etc etc that causes so much angst in parents.

I'm really proud of her now.

How could you have been shocked by "thirteen"? Weren't YOU a teenager?

Just because I know all the shit *I* pulled as a teen doesn't mean it will fly when my daughter does it. :) That's the role of a parent: to moderate and discipline.

Someone with a parenting strategy of "Oh well, I did X at that age." is going to raise a mess.

Perhaps shocked was the wrong word. I'd had a few alcoholic beverages when I wrote that. :)

I do think that the filmmakers/writers nailed the whole thing to a tee though, and that was what shocked me - to use that word again, that they could have gotten the portrayal of teen angst so *right* IMHO.

You're absolutely correct about the role of a parent. I tend to think that we get into such arguments etc with our children *precisely* because we know what we did when we were their age.