A Catholic high school planned to give “modesty ponchos” to girls with revealing prom dresses but swiftly abandoned the plan amid accusations of misogyny.
Divine Child High School in Dearborn, Mich., displayed the ponchos at the school entrance with a message warning that school administrators would give them to girls who arrived at prom in dresses that did not conform to the school’s policies. School administrators soon backtracked on the plan and sent a letter to parents saying the poncho would not be passed out after students accused the school of practicing misogyny.
“The way they talked about it before is, if you show up in a dress not in line with what they say, you will have to put this poncho on,” Mahdi Charara, a senior, told CNN.
“There’s an idea that men have the right to impose their will, good or bad, modest or immodest, on women,” he added.
Mahdi, whose name comes from an Islamic prophecy about the 12th Imam who Shiites believe will appear in the end times and rid the world of evil, was not the only student who decried the Catholic school’s attempts to enforce their dress code. Some girls chose to return their dresses and opt for more modest ones. However, some said they would boycott the dance and others simply threatened to leave if they were handed a poncho.
The school’s dress code forbids cleavage, visible midriffs, and cutouts below the normal bra line, according to The Associated Press. Mary Pat O’Malley, a theology teacher who proposed the poncho idea, said the intent was to encourage a focus on “inner beauty.”
“We are trying focus on the inner beauty and not draw attention to something that doesn’t need attention drawn to it,” O’Malley told the AP. “It was really intended as a deterrent and a light hearted one at that.”
Principal Eric Haley said that while the school would not hand out ponchos, they would still hand out shawls and scarves to girls with revealing dresses.
“We encourage our students to tailor their outfits or provide their own wraps or shawls that would meet our requirements,” Haley told the AP. “If necessary, we may also provide wraps and shawls, as we have done at school functions for many years.”
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