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Boys At U.K. School Don Skirts In Rebellion Against Uniform Rules

Apparently school dress codes can be discriminatory for boys too.

If you can't break the rules, it might just be time to invent your own.

That was apparently exactly what a group of English boys decided to do when their school issued a hard "no" to their request to wear shorts during the country's recent heat wave.

As the Guardian reports, male pupils at Isca Academy in Exeter arrived at school in their sisters' and friends' skirts this week after the administration reiterated that pants were the only acceptable attire for the classroom.

Claire Lambeth, mom to Ryan, who opted for the breezier wardrobe choice, said she'd spoken to the school about shorts and they'd told her it was school policy.

"I did say this was exceptional weather, but they were having none of it," she tells the Guardian. "If girls can wear skirts, why can't boys wear shorts?"

At the co-ed school, the uniform requirements are trousers for the boys and trousers or a skirt (which should be worn with leggings or tights) for the girls. Shorts are worn, however, for gym class.

"If girls can wear skirts, why can't boys wear shorts?"

According to DevonLive, some of the boys were told their legs were too hairy for them to be wearing skirts, and others were told the skirts were too short.

In response, the boys got a taste of what their female counterparts go through all the time — they bought razors and shaved their legs before heading into school the next day.

At other schools in the past, male students have been known to wear skirts with a more political bent, as one school in France did to fight against sexism in 2014, and another in California to protest gendered language that divided what boys and girls could wear to school.

And while Isca Academy claims no one has been penalized for sporting these illicit outfits, headteacher Aimee Mitchell maintains that they aren't making any changes to the uniform for boys "without consulting both students and their families."

We say, if it makes them more comfortable in class, then it's probably benefiting everyone more in the end anyway. Heck, we're sure there are plenty of grown men who would love a break from unofficial uniform of long pants and a shirt during the summer too.

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