Alexi Halket wore a turquoise crop top and gray skirt to Etobicoke School of the Arts in Toronto, Canada, on Monday. The fairly simple, summery ensemble soon started quite a stir among the teachers of the school.
Halket was sent to principal Rob MacKinnon's office, where she was told that her outfit was inappropriate for school, and told that she would not be allowed to show up to school in similar attire ever again.
[seealso slug="teen-dress-code-letter"]
MacKinnon told The Canadian Press that the fashion edict was "about appropriate dress for this setting, not sexualizing students or objectifying them, but what’s OK in school."
Halket refused to accept the order, and promptly went home to create a Facebook event for what would come to be known as "Crop Top Day."
In the Facebook event, Halket described her experience when talking to Principal McKinnon:
So today a MALE teacher spoke to the vice principal regarding the shirt I was wearing, saying that it looked "too much like a sports bra." First of all, what's wrong with a sports bra? It does it's job of covering boobs, and why is SKIN perceived as "inappropriate". That only means that it's seen as sexual or provocative, and teachers shouldn't be making those observations about students. I went in to the office and refused to change or cover up, and I was sent to the principal where we talked for over an hour and came to no conclusion except a threat that if I wore something like this again I would be called in to the office. I even told them that I had a whole lineup of cute body positive outfits that made me feel beautiful because this week is my birthday! (Tomorrow is my birthday) But they told me not to wear them because I wouldn't want to be called into the office on my birthday.
Halket issued a call to arms — er, stomachs — and invited over 7,000 girls to wear a crop top on Tuesday in protest of the school's "sexualization" of female students. "PLEASE wear a crop top, sports bra, bralette, bandeau, or anything similar and stand in solidarity against the sexualization of women's bodies on my birthday," wrote Halket. "It would be the best birthday present ever."
On Tuesday, it was clear that it was one of the few Facebook events that people actually paid attention to. Hundreds of female students showed up to school in their sports bras and crop tops.
Toronto students organize"#CropTopDay to protest dress codes http://t.co/zAcRV48nOC pic.twitter.com/u1r6nmLmUs— TorontoStar (@TorontoStar) May 26, 2015
Rather than send a horde of students to detention, the school's administration sat down in the library with the students to discuss the dress code issue.
MacKinnon told the Toronto Star that he was "proud" of the students for standing up for what they believed in.
However, the administration and the students couldn't reach an agreement on the dress code. Halket wasn't willing to accept the school's explanation that baring skin was "unprofessional."
"[MacKinnon] said ‘this is a professional environment," Halket told The Canadian Press. "So I said, ‘yes, but the word professional comes from profession, meaning job, and this is your job, so I understand if you have to be professional, but I have to go to school and I’m going to wear whatever makes me comfortable.'"
On the Crop Top Day Facebook page, Halket pointed out to any and all haters that, whether or not they agreed with the choice, Halket and her fellow students were not out of line in voicing their stance on the issue.