A secondary school has been accused of “victim blaming” after it told students wearing short skirts made them a target for sexual harassment.
Martin Henton, the acting headteacher at Bishop of Hereford’s Bluecoat School, has been fiercely criticised after he said female pupil’s hemlines should not be above the knee.
During a welcome assembly at the school in the cathedral city, Mr Henton said wearing long skirts “protected” girls from sexual harassment.
Parents have condemned the school and called for Mr Henton to issue an apology for the comments he made last week.
“During assembly, the subject of the new school skirt was addressed,” Ceri Robinson, a 43-year-old mother, said.
“Neither I nor my daughter have any issues with the skirt that must be worn. However, my daughter and her peers were told the longer skirt was aimed at keeping the girls safe from sexual harassment. I am quite stunned that this was deemed acceptable.”
She argued the burden of responsibility needed to be placed on perpetrators rather than the girls themselves.
She added: “The endorsement of the view in the 21st Century that women and girls have to protect themselves from sexual harassment can be the fault of the victim has a negative impact on the young people who should have trust in the school.
“Promoting the idea that sexual harassment can be the fault of the victim has a negative impact on the young people who should have trust in the school.
“Any victim of any kind of abuse should be confident in talking to a teacher. The message of this assembly undermines that.”
A mother who wanted to remain anonymous said her daughter had come home crying after the assembly.
“My daughter came home in tears and asked me if she should chuck her skirts,” she said. “I asked her what was wrong and she said the girls had been told that wearing short skirts was putting them in danger.
“I was appalled. My daughter dresses like any other teenager does. Why should she feel like she’s to blame if someone decides to harass her?”
But the school has denied the head teacher made such remarks about sexual harassment.
“There is no link between the length of the skirts and keeping girls safe from sexual harassment, this was not the intended message during the assembly,” the school said in a statement.
“We have responded personally to all of the parents/carers who contacted the school. I have received many positive messages of support from parents/carers for the promotion of high standards at Bishop’s along with raising awareness about the risks to all students from sexual harassment.”
The school insisted its students have an “active voice” and are listened to – saying they have established a working group to explore how to address the issues associated with sexual harassment and other safeguarding issues.
The school added: “In the assembly to students two issues were addressed. Firstly, the high expectations that we set for students and are proud of, which includes a newly designed skirt, which followed consultation with our parents/carers.
“The second issue discussed was about safeguarding issues following the high profile reports on BBC News last week regarding alarming online potential sexual threats to children. As part of our statutory responsibility to safeguarding our students, we took the decision to address this in the assembly.”
The furore comes months after parents branded it “medieval” to ask parents to send in their children if they were unwell.
Additional reporting by SWNS
