Anti-miniskirt witch-hunt in South Carolina, USA

Carey Burgess

Carey Burgess speaks out against school’s ‘too short’ skirt dress-code violation

Oct. 30, 2015 at 10:57 PM

Alesandra Dubin

When you hear that a teenage girl was threatened with suspension from school for an inappropriate outfit, this probably isn’t what you picture: a young woman — who happens to be the student body president, a junior marshal, and a recipient of South Carolina’s Palmetto Fellows Scholarship — wearing a long-sleeved striped sweater over a collared shirt, and paired with a simple skirt.

But that’s exactly what happened to Carey Burgess, a 17-year-old student at Beaufort High School in South Carolina, who got suspended from for wearing a skirt that a teacher told her was too short for the school’s dress code.

Carey Burgess wrote this on Facebook about it:

Today, I wore this outfit to Beaufort High School. About 20 minutes into the day, my friend and I were excused from class to venture to the vending machine because our teacher was planning to do nothing all class period, as usual. On our way back, I learned something very important about myself: I am a whore.

As I was walking down the hallway, I heard a voice behind me. “Your skirt is too short. You need to go to in-school suspension and then go home.” Thank you, Mrs. Woods. Thank you for teaching me that looking good for school is NOT appropriate. Thank you for letting me know that while I may think that I am dressing up for my Teacher Cadet lesson, I am in fact dressing to go to a night club or the whore house. Thank you for bringing me to tears in front of my friends and classmates because you do not have the decency to pull me aside and explain the problem. Then again, I did not have the decency to put on real clothes today.

So maybe I am in the wrong. Maybe our society isn’t yet advanced enough to handle 3 inches of my thigh. This is a patriarchal society and I am a woman. I have to be kept in my place, or I may do something that is so rarely seen in Beaufort High School- learn.

You saved me, Beaufort High. As Student Body President, junior marshal, and a recipient of the Palmetto Fellows, I was heading down the path of hard drugs (good thing you’re testing next year!), strip clubs, and sugar daddies. I don’t [know] where I would be without your misogynistic views. How could I go on without a certain math teacher making sexist jokes all class? How could I survive without my science professor letting me know I am an inferior woman? Yes, I am a woman. I am woman with thighs, a butt, and a brain. I am bigger than Beaufort High School. All of us are. Maybe instead of worrying about my skirt, Beaufort High should take notice of its incompetent employees, and sexist leaders.

The Today.com article continues:

Having been cited for dress-code infractions before, Burgess had had enough. She took to social media to vent and share her story, which quickly went viral. Her Facebook post describing the incident has more than 11,300 shares since Tuesday.

RELATED: Kentucky student violates high school dress code with exposed collarbone

In the original Instagram image, she posted three views of herself in the objectionable outfit. …

Many posters who appeared to be fellow students chimed in with comments, sharing similar opinions about a school administration less focused on education and more on draconian policies.

RELATED: J.C. Penney employee sent home for wearing shorts she bought — at J.C. Penney