“Girls, with your necklines we can see your breasts [sic] in class 2 minutes before you. »
These are comments made by an assistant director of a secondary school in the northern suburbs of Montreal in a fifth-grade class last week. In a Facebook post shared more than 600 times, a student who attended this speech denounced the words “disrespectful, inappropriate and belittling”.
“In class, I had the impression that no one had reactions and that it just shocked me,” explains teenager Jade Lesage in an interview with the To have to. The student, who will finish high school in just over a month and who prefers not to disclose the name of his school, explains that he felt the need to publicly share the words of this deputy director: “I wanted to free myself of that weight. »
In his Facebook post, the student reports other remarks made by the director: “Me when I see girls who show their skin a lot, I know it’s going to end on Saint-Laurent that” as well as “There to start [sic] not to be frustrated”.
The coordinator at the General Secretariat and corporate and legal affairs department of the Affluents School Services Center, Éric Ladouceur, does not deny the comments reported by Jade Lesage.
“After checking with the school director, it appears that the vice-director would have discussed the dress of the pupils, both with boys and girls, and this, within the framework of various instructions and information concerning the last twenty school year days […] “, he indicated to the To have to by email.
He adds that “even if the objective was to enforce the code of life, the references used to illustrate his remarks are inappropriate” and assures that “the school principal carried out, as of this morning (Monday), the relevant follow-ups with students and those concerned.
Positive reception
Herself surprised by all the attention given to her publication since its publication four days earlier, Jade Lesage is delighted with the reception that has been made, on social networks first and then in person. “A girl accosted me at school today to say ‘I really liked your text, you did really well'”, she rejoices.
The school where Jade studies does not have a compulsory uniform, but there is nevertheless a dress code which stipulates that one must “be covered from above the knees to the shoulders”. According to the young woman, this code is “more focused on girls”.
His remarks echo a movement denouncing sexism in the application of the dress code in high school that had gained momentum nearly two years ago. Several boys had then decided to wear the skirt in support of the girls who denounced their expulsion from the classrooms because of a skirt deemed too short by the school authorities.
“I am angry because in 2022 I still have to fight to put on shorts”, denounces Jade Lesage in her Facebook post.
Even if she claims to have initially been afraid that her text would be “misinterpreted”, the young woman is delighted today with her enthusiastic reception.
“Since I started high school, I’ve always been ready to speak up when I found situations unfair or heard inappropriate comments,” she says. It’s really the last straw for a person in authority to allow himself to say things like that. »