Hems Didn't Hit Knee, Girls Booted Out Of School Homecoming Dance

LOUISVILLE, KY — Dozens of high-school girls wearing the same off-the-rack dresses teens across America wear on social occasions were turned away from their school’s homecoming dance in Louisville Saturday because the hems of their dresses were above the knee.

The teens’ violation of a dress code — which some parents say is sexist, sets standards that are impossible to meet and was unevenly enforced — even prompted a police response.

Carrie Vittitoe told the Louisville Courier Journal that when she arrived at Eastern High School Saturday night to pick up her 15-year-old daughter, she saw a couple of police cruisers in the parking lot. Dozens of kids were milling around, waiting for their parents to pick them up.

One of the police officers even ordered the teens off the property immediately or face trespassing charges, Vittitoe told the newspaper, adding the dress-code issue could have deteriorated quickly into a public-safety issue with kids wandering around in the dark with no place to go.

The story the girls told has echoes of the 1960s battle of the hemline, as much about political revolution as fashion trends. Back then, women now the age of these girls’ grandmothers and great-grandmothers knelt down on school-gymnasium floors across America as a ruler-wielding principal or teacher went from girl to girl, measuring the distance from the floor to the hem of the skirt.

Fast forward to 2019, and what happened at the homecoming dance wasn’t all that different.

Staff were waiting at the entrance to the dance, rulers in hand, making sure no girl entered wearing a skirt that measured more than 2 inches above the knee. It wasn’t as if these girls were trying to sneak into the dance in revealing, runway-style evening gowns.

Photos shared on social media show modestly styled dresses, fashionably short but not mini-skirt short. Many of them have high necklines. Most were sleeveless, a practical choice given summer-like temperatures in that part of Kentucky.

“I’m not sure EHS staff understands that parents purchase the dresses that are available to purchase in storms,” Vittitoe wrote on her blog. “I don’t know a single mother who wouldn’t love to find the ‘Hit at the Kneecap’ dress shop, but it just doesn’t exist.”

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Jefferson County Public Schools attendance centers set their own dress codes, resulting in a hodgepodge of rules, some more liberal than others. Atherton High School is silent on dress-code policies in its current handbook, though a previous version allowed hem lengths that hit girls 6 inches above the knee, the Louisville Courier Journal reported.

The Eastern High School dress code states, in part, that “all clothing must be knee length of longer.” That includes shorts and shirts, but also leggings worn under a shirt that is shorter than knee-length.

Eastern relaxed its rule some for the homecoming dance, according to a letter to parents on Sept. 20, a day before the event. Girls could wear dresses with hemlines resting 2 inches above the knee, and any student violating the rule could not be allowed to attend the dance and would not get a refund on a purchased ticket.

The dress code is sexist at its core and makes her daughter “feel more insecure about things she already feels insecure,” Vittitoe told The Courier Journal.

The teen, a sophomore, told the newspaper she was grilled about the length of her dress before the measuring stick was used, and the whole experience “just made me feel awful about myself — like I wasn’t acceptable.”

Stephen Carnes told The Courier Journal his daughter wasn’t allowed to attend the dance, but her friend who was wearing an identical dress was approved.

“Zero consistency,” he told the newspaper.

“I have two daughters who attend Eastern,” mom Lori Chitwood told The CourierJournal in an email. “One was admitted, and one was not. It actually ruined my oldest daughter’s homecoming.”

Twitter user Emily Burrice, who is among those who shared photos of the shunned girls, said the dress code targets girls for what they wear and sets standards that are impossible for them to meet. She also tweeted that “girls are made to stand in front of the class to see how short their shorts are” and “can’t wear sleeveless shirts.”

Added Twitter user Thomas McClaren: “When I was in the Marine Corps, my green on green PT shorts barely fell below my anatomy…. nobody cared. The difference is the Marine Corps isn’t sexualizing my thighs, like Eastern High School sexualized their female students’ [thighs].”

Eastern High School plans review its dress code and its enforcement, Renee Murphy, a spokeswoman for the school district, told The Courier Journal.

“Student representatives and parent representatives will review the dress code as well, along with a teacher group, and administrators will work with their (school-based decision-making council) to consider suggestions for improvement,” Murphy said.

Vittitoe told The Courier Journal she’s not opposed to dance dress codes as long as they’re uniformly enforced.

“From making girls feel like there’s something wrong with their bodies to how this affects families that can’t afford to go out and spend loads of money on fancy outfits,” she said, “this impacted kids.”