Previously, Japanese schools had enforced a rule stating that female students can only wear white-coloured underwear beneath their school uniforms so that it would not be able to be seen through their clothes.
Now, a new rule is being administered, causing jaws to drops all around the world.
Based on a report by VICE World News, a former Japanese school teacher has revealed that girls are no longer allowed to wear their hair in ponytails. Why? Because the view of the back of their necks may sexually excite the boys.
“They’re (school administrators) worried boys will look at girls, which is similar to the reasoning behind upholding a white-only underwear colour rule,”
“I’ve always criticised these rules, but because there’s such a lack of criticism and it’s become so normalised, students have no choice but to accept them,” the retired teacher shared.
In his 11 years of teaching at 5 different schools in Japan, all of them had prohibited ponytails and has since become an activist against sexist rules imposed on school students.
Adding to this narrative, associate professor of sociology at the Meiji University, Asao Naito shared that such rules can cause students to believe that their bodies are in the control of others.
“Sexuality becomes not something that belongs to the individual, but an item or thing that can be controlled.”
While some schools in Japan have listened and obliged to their students’ complaints by allowing grey, navy blue and black-coloured underwear, making schools are still ignoring the call for change by enforcing these sexist rules on their female students.
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