Slits Or Open Backs For Prom Dresses Are Banned In Shelton School

Just a week before prom night, students at Shelton High School in Connecticut heard a startling message in the morning announcements: Dresses that are not worn according to newly disclosed standards will force girls to leave the event.

According to the new rules, no backless dresses, two-piece ensembles showing some midriff, dresses with cutouts, and even slits on the side were not permitted, according to a local NBC affiliate.

Half a dozen girls at the school outside New Haven feared that they would not be able to be part of the night, as their dresses had been bought and paid for. The last-minute unjust ruling made them begin a petition asking for reconsideration, according to wtnh.

The request was poorly timed, even as the female students felt that their bodies are "sexualized". Young girls are often the target of dress code violations, as administrators fear that it might be too tempting for male students.

Even revealing attire during the regular hours, with the weather getting warmer, were warned against.

"There is a sexist and backwards logic that girls must cover up so that boys are not distracted or tempted to behave inappropriately," the petition reads. "If a girl wears a pair of shorts and a boy takes that as an invitation to touch her, who really needs to be told to control themselves?"

While prom is thought to be a night of "joyful sendoffs', the dress code made the school send students home for wearing inappropriate clothes. Hence, while one student was pulled up for wearing a long-sleeved dress that showed too much cleavage, another teenager in Michigan got sent away for wearing backless dresses in April.

The students are firm that their dress code regulations are acceptable only if they are equally passed on to all the students. They plan to circulate copies of their petition in school Monday and give it to their headmaster as well as the Board of Education.