Teens protest school dress code for the right to go braless

Teens in Quebec are decorating their clothing with yellow squares to protest their “restrictive and sexist” school dress code — with female students demanding to ditch their bras.

On March 22, Célestine Uhde and three other students at Joseph-François-Perrault High School launched the Facebook group “Les Carrés Jaunes” (yellow squares) in response to their school dress code, which prohibits spaghetti straps and shorts that end above mid-thigh, among other items. “We consider that most regulations are archaic and that we have the right to claim certain things,” per the group’s mission statement, translated from French. “The Yellow Square is our distinctive sign.”

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In a follow-up post, the group stated, “Moreover, we claim the right not to wear brassières and respect when we do not wear them.”

“We launched the movement to fight the culture of rape and hypersexualization,” Uhde tells Yahoo Lifestyle, in an email translated from French. “We want the equality of men and women both in our treatment and how the world views our bodies,” adding that the group chose the color yellow because it’s easily recognizable.

Noting that bras can be physically uncomfortable, Uhde says, “In an ideal world,  women would not need to hide their breasts and freely assume their bodies,” because “hiding one’s breasts sexualizes them more.”

A representative from Joseph-François-Perrault High School did not return Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment but the school principal Marlène Bureau told CBC, “We can be proud that our youths question things.”

The Facebook group has also attracted students from neighboring schools who object to their respective dress codes. For example, one girl who attends Mont-Saint-Sacrement school in Quebec complained that dyed hair, patterns, and flashy accessories are banned. And Uhde tells Yahoo Lifestyle that the group has drawn support from both male and female students.

School dress code protests often draw controversy for enforcing gender-and-weight discrimination, and lately, bras have become a focal point for some who feel the rules have gotten too invasive.

Earlier in April, a Florida high school junior named Lizzy Martinez vowed to attend school braless after her dean told her to place Band-Aids over her nipples to prevent male students from becoming “distracted.”

“If the boys in my class were so distracted, shouldn’t they have been talked to and educated about the situation and not me being pulled out of class?” Martinez told Columbus, Ohio, local news station NBC4i. Her mother agreed, telling Tampa Bay station WFTS, “We would not target a male who had excessive breast tissue and ask them to confine the movement.”