A 14-year-old girl slammed the "sexualization" of teenagers after a teacher made a suggestive remark about her chosen outfit.
Per News4Jax, Alice Wagner, an eighth-grader at Yulee Middle School in Florida, was told by a teacher that what she was wearing was too revealing and reportedly went on to make a comment about her body.
She had been wearing a white tank top underneath a long-sleeved gray sweater and a colorful skirt.
Wagner told the outlet: "[The teacher] told me I was ‘letting them hang out for the whole world to see,’ as I was exiting the classroom. I went to the bathroom and I came back and I said, ‘You need to stop sexualizing 14-year-old girls.’
"I grabbed my stuff and I removed myself from the situation."
Check out this news report on the debacle:The teen also explained how she was refused the opportunity to call her parents at the administration's office and which led to an argument breaking out between herself and staff. Ultimately, Wagner was given a 10-day suspension following the exchange.
Both the student and her mother Sarah Wagner have acknowledged that the eighth-grader could have handled the situation a lot more respectfully, according to News4Jax.
"So, I don’t think it’s okay for her to talk to teachers that way," Ms. Wagner told the publication. "But I understand why she was angry. She was basically sexually harassed by her teacher. … The teacher did apologize, she did understand what she did was wrong."
Wagner and her mom both believe the whole debacle stems from a "systemic problem" in schools. And the outspoken adolescent says there are double standards when it comes to the institution's dress code.
"I believe that teachers are targeting women with mature bodies, women in general absolutely," she said. "So just because I have a little bit of breasts, I get targeted."
Per News4Jax, the Nassau County School District's dress code prohibits students from wearing "tops with thin or no straps, or tops that show midriff or expose the body." It also prohibits see-through items of clothing and those which show undergarments.
The dress code was updated earlier this year, and the district says it reevaluates its policy every year.
Wagner said she was told her undergarments could be seen, but she says the cardigan she was wearing would have meant that was impossible.
