Last Friday night in Harrisburg, Pa., a female student was kicked out of her own prom for wearing a suit. If that doesn’t make sense to you, that’s because the reasoning…doesn’t really make sense.
According to ABC27 News, Bishop McDevitt High School, the high school in question, has responded in a statement saying that the student, Aniya Wolf, did not follow prom dress code and therefore was asked to leave.
They said, “the dress code for the prom specified girls must wear formal dresses, and “that students who failed to follow the dress code would not be admitted.” Apparently, the school found out ahead of time that Wolf was planning to wear a tux, and tried contacting her mother to “resolve the situation.”
Wolf also told ABC27 that the incident made her feel like a “mistake” especially because she identifies as a lesbian and has never had a problem with the way she dresses until now. The Wolf family told ABC27 in an earlier story that they got a last-minute email explaining that girls had to wear a dress to prom. Wolf’s mom tried to call the school and argue with them, but it didn’t work. When she got to prom, Wolf said a school official went so far as to grab her arm and threaten to call to police, so she had to leave.
ABC27 published the school’s dress code, and as usual, it’s pretty sexist. While there are nine extremely strict rules regarding girls’ dresses, the boys’ dress code is only three lines long. You’d think that if the school was so obsessed with modesty, they’d be happy that a girl decided to wear a tux—It’s arguably the most modest option out there.
“Without question, we love, respect and cherish all of our students,” school administrators said in the statement. Well, they can say that, but they’re not doing a great job of showing that.