20070429

The Evil Spaghetti Strap Banned in Schools

The warmer months have finally arrived and with it brings summer fashions. Some of those summer fashions are banned at our schools. One such banned item, is the wearing of "spaghetti straps". This is a rule that I don't quite understand. What is so sexual about a shoulder? The straps on the shirts must be two finger thicknesses. Fingers can be different sizes and whose finger is the judge on thickness? Is it the principals? Is it the parents? I know that my husbands fingers are the size of frankfurters. That would mean that my daughters would have to wear straps that were two inches thick if in accordance with my husband's digits, my digits would dictate an inch sized strap .

This all leads to the sexualization of the shoulder. Are the schools protecting the girls from themselves somehow? Are they protecting the little boys that may find shoulders so enticing that crimes may occur, or that they will be so mesmerized by the shoulder socket that they will not be able to concentrate on their school work? Regardless if the strap is an inch thick or a quarter of an inch thick, shoulders are still bared and the articulation of the arm to the armpit is still visible.

This rule punishes girls, and it is reminiscent of the the old saying "well she was dressed a certain way so she deserved it". . . and that doesn't fly too comfortably with me. It is not addressing conduct, it is actually giving the message that spaghetti straps are the lone cause of sexual harassment, and that idiotic "boys will be boys" mentality.

It is possible to wear thick straps and have your breasts exposed.

What happens to these boys when they visit a beach, and see spaghetti strap bikinis, through years of prohibition, will these boys suddenly act crazy with hormones because of past shoulder deprivation?

Now, if a school was to ban ultra low rise jeans with the g-string hanging out (so gauche and passe), I would be perfectly happy with this. Not only is the coin slot and the prominent g-string trashy looking, but it is not appropriate. Yet, whether a spaghetti strap is an inch or half an inch should not be an issue. What should be an issue is the appropriateness of the interaction between children regardless of wardrobe decisions. I don't think a spaghetti strap is the root cause of misbehaviour. Who makes these obtuse rules?

Who knows, this modus operandi may just give way for a new breed of sexual deviants whose fetish is the shoulder. Watch out girls, we may just have to dig out our ponchos! Or worse yet we may have to attach shoulder sheaths to our shoulders while wearing spaghetti straps.

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