Letters to the Editor
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Sleezy
Taking her way in handcuff is a little much. Have we become a police society..YES! WE HAVE,
On the other the school had every right to deny her access to the prom if they had a dress code. I would hope any high school would ban this type of dress at a high school prom. It looks like beach attire.
The dress is just plain slezzy by any standards. Her mother should have ot let her out of the house in this dress.
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I watch SpikeTV, and ...
...this all looks pretty pedestrian to me.
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As dug up elsewhere...
...without guarantees of accuracy, of course:
* Her parents supposedly didn't let her out of the house like that, she switched dresses without their knowledge.
* There were printed rules beforehand which included "no more than 1" of bare midriff", "must wear proper undergarments", and also something about slits not being more than a couple inches above the knee, which I'm pretty sure would also apply to dresses that short. So she did know what was expected.
No sympathy from me. She looks terrible, to be honest, and it sounds more and more like she knew she was going to get in trouble for it. I knew girls like that in high school, and guys, too... they misbehaved because they liked the attention. Not newsworthy except as an excuse to show a teenage girl in hardly any clothing, which is I guess what passes for news now.
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Her parents and her mirror...
Ought to be taken into custody immediately. The former for letting her leave the house dressed like that and the latter for gulling her into thinking she looked good in that dish rag!
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Disappointed in Broadsheet
I'm quite disappointed in Broadsheet's coverage of this story. You've left out a very important aspect of this situation that has been covered by the local media (but barely, I'll admit). This girl knew, or should have known, the dress code for Prom. That information was given to students before the Prom. One of the rules that she obviously broke? Only one inch of bare midriff allowed.
I taught high school for six years and dress codes are the norm at Proms in this area, not the exception. Lots of girls and boys try to get around the rules, but they know well ahead of time the consequences.
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It's all just dress-up, anyway
I'm in agreement with rupert_c and gsm. One has to wonder if there wasn't a racial component in the school's decision to call the cops rather than just let her have her fit outside.
And, I'm wondering if most posters haven't been to prom within the last twenty years. The whole POINT is to wear something outrageous, something you'd never wear again. As I recall my year, gender-benders and moulin rouge was in among the non-Jessica McClintock crowd.
Prom was a formal event in the days of formal events. Nowadays, it's a costume party.
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She's a Coward
She should have gone nekkid to the prom, if she had any guts.
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You Blew The Headline
Should have been:
"Does this dress make me look illegal?"
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Threatening her with jail was way out of proportion...
...but that dress is also wildly inappropriate for a high school prom. Actually, I don't think that she should have been allowed in -- although I'm of divided mind on the subject of whether she should have been given a refund for her ticket. Let's face it -- it wouldn't have taken much at all for the girl to fall out of that dress, either accidentally or on purpose, and give everyone a peep show (for all that we know, that may have been one of the reasons why she chose to wear it). For pity's sake, your average belly dancer covers up more! As it happens, when I look at the other picture in the article, I can't see the train which this dress is supposed to have had -- but even if there was one, there's no particular reason to believe that she would have kept it wrapped around her all night. Since the article suggests that the school did have an officially-established dress code for the event, it's by no means impossible that this girl simply decided the rules don't apply to her -- and if so, she deserves the lion's share of the blame for being refused admittance. If the rules were spelled out clearly in advance and she chose to ignore and disregard them, I don't really see why the school should be required to refund the money for her ticket -- although doing so anyway would have been a nice gesture.
Actually, I'm inclined to agree with some of the people who've already posted...where were Ms. Taylor's parents in all of this, and what the hell were they thinking?!? If I had even *thought* about stepping out of the house dressed like that while I was under my parents' roof, my mother would have tanned my hide.
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high school or police precinct?
Yes, the dress is horribly tacky and the girl should have been ashamed to leave the house in it, but some people just have bad taste and poor judgment. As an example of poor judgment, the high school for calling the police in this situation.
As one of the readers commented, the school could have just called the girls parent(s) to come pick her up, told her they would discuss the matter of a refund later, and not continued to argue with the girl. Calling the police was a complete overreaction.
Do we really think this girl was physically threatening anyone at the prom? That would be the only good reason for calling the police in this situation.
It's strange how most people, outside of a few commenters, don't seem to be at all worried about how most urban school environments have become increasingly police-like. Many schools now, rather than learning to deal constructively with students (even loud and obnoxious students), are resorting to using the police as the arbiters of authority and force. In these urban schools, students are well "educated" in the ways of interacting with the criminal justice system, but not about how to interact with the rest of the world.
As much as the girl's dress and behavior (which has only been speculated about in this thread rather than reported on) was a shame, the real shame is when urban schools continue to respond to any resistance, opposition, or argument from students (no matter how trivial) with the threat of police force.