老澳门开奖结果

I should really be studying for my upcoming final exams right now. Instead, I鈥檓 a bit distracted spending the final months of my junior year fighting the School District of Manatee County鈥檚 sexist attack on my body.

My life was completely different just a month ago. Over spring break, I was a normal teenager having a blast at the lazy river in Orlando. It was so much fun, and so hot, that I got sunburnt pretty badly, which made the car ride home uncomfortable.

Keeping in mind that I could barely handle a seatbelt against my skin, I picked out my outfit for the following school day: my most comfortable long-sleeve t-shirt, which I would wear without a bra. I figured this choice of attire would cause the least irritation to my skin. Little did I know of the firestorm that was on its way.

That morning at school went along as any other 鈥� until I got pulled out of class to go to student services. Apparently, the dean at my school wanted to speak to me. I sat in the office, nervously biting my nails, for what seemed to be forever. 鈥淲hy does the dean want to see me?鈥� I wondered. 鈥淲hat could I have done wrong?鈥�

Roughly 15 minutes went by before the dean called me into her office. She was accompanied by the principal. She was shutting the door, she told me, because there were boys in the office, and she didn鈥檛 want me to get 鈥渆mbarrassed.鈥� That鈥檚 when I knew what this whole ordeal was about. My cheeks began to flush.

A teacher had called the office because she had 鈥渃oncerns that I wasn鈥檛 wearing a bra,鈥� and it was distracting boys in the classroom, the dean said. I looked her dead in the face and asked her if she was joking. 鈥淯nfortunately not, sweetie,鈥� she replied. The principal intervened and backed her up. I sat there in shock that the principal and dean of my school were having a conversation about my nipples.

I felt completely humiliated.

The dean eventually asked me to wear a shirt underneath the one I was wearing to constrict the movement of my breasts and conceal my nipples. But after I doubled up on t-shirts, she still seemed dissatisfied.

That鈥檚 when she asked me to 鈥渕ove around.鈥� Weirded out, I asked her what she meant.

鈥淵ou know,鈥� she said, shaking her body. 鈥淢ove around.鈥�

After I begrudgingly paraded my body in front of her, the dean resumed brainstorming ways to 鈥渇ix鈥� my nipple situation. And then, eureka: 鈥淏and-aids!鈥� she said. I was disgusted.

The dean sent me to the clinic, where I was told to use band-aids to 鈥榅鈥� out my nipples in the restroom. I stared in the restroom mirror with hot tears running down my face, unable to pull myself together. I bemoaned that if I were a smaller girl, this wouldn鈥檛 have happened to me. And it definitely wouldn鈥檛 have happened if I were a boy. I typically don鈥檛 struggle with body image issues, but that day I surely did.

With my shirt pulled up and tears streaming down, I stared in the mirror. In that moment, I hated myself, my body, and everyone who made me feel shame about the flesh that I was born in. I wanted to speak up for myself, but I felt intimidated by their authority.

I was sent back to class, still in tears. My best friend rushed me to the bathroom. When I showed her my bandages, she shared my rage.

Unable to pull myself together, I sent my mom a text telling her I felt attacked because of my gender. She came to my rescue right away.

When I got home that day, I logged onto Twitter and vented about what I went through at school. I sent my school a tweet from the heart: 鈥淪top sexualizing my body.鈥� The school proceeded to block me.

When friends and I planned a 鈥淏racott鈥� to support the destigmatization of female bodies, our school threatened to discipline students who participated. We just wanted our school to recognize female students as equal to our male classmates, not as sexual objects that are 鈥渄istractions鈥� in the classroom.

It鈥檚 been four weeks since the incident, and it鈥檚 clear that my nipples have never been the real distraction. As a student, nothing is more distracting to my ability to learn than being pulled out of class and made to feel ashamed about my own chest. That鈥檚 why I鈥檓 demanding that my school stop enforcing a dress code in a matter that discriminates against teenagers based on their sex.

I鈥檝e been forced to miss several days of school, but I won鈥檛 miss the chance to do what鈥檚 right. I hope that by speaking out, I鈥檒l help ensure that more schools treat girls鈥� bodies with equal respect, rather than shaming them with bandages.

Read the demand letter sent by the 老澳门开奖结果 and the 老澳门开奖结果 of Florida to the School District of Manatee County.