A mother was furious after receiving a phone call from her daughter's school claiming that her teenage daughter was being defiant against the dress code.
TikToker Stasia, a.k.a. @teachingadhdllamas, said she was teaching when she was interrupted by a phone call from the school administrator who claimed Stasia's daughter told her teacher to "f'k off" after being reprimanded for her attire.
The mother's response, however, was not what you might expect.
@teachingadhdllamas Visit TikTok to discover videos!
The TikToker stood by her daughter, 100%.
She synced her video to the tune of "Mama Said" by Lukas Graham and grooved to the music while sitting in her car.
Instead of verbalizing her frustration with her daughter being dress coded by the school, she flipped the bird in solidarity with her daughter.
In the clip's text overlay, Stasia wrote:
“F'k the dress codes. Shoulders, midriffs and legs aren’t the problem."
She added:
"Talk to the boys/men who claim it’s distracting.”
Many TikTokers commiserated and agreed with the mother.
@teachingadhdllamas/TikTok
@teachingadhdllamas/TikTok
@teachingadhdllamas/TikTok
In a follow-up clip, Stasia said her daughter organized a "white Tank Top Day" at which students wore tank tops with messages on them to protest the dress code.
Stasia said her 19-year-old son helped make her daughter's tank top with a message that read:
"Do my shoulders distract you because you're reading the front of my shirt?"
She said she would probably get multiple phone calls from the school admin as a result of the demonstration led by her daughter.
"But they knew this was coming," said Stasia, before listing examples of her kids taking action against a number of policies and injustices at the school.
“My children have stood up against racist teachers, my children have stood up with other children who were deadnamed by ignorant teachers."
Stasia also said her daughter "refused to take straight sex education as a non-straight student," and added, "We'd just like them to focus on the number of rapists that graduate there."
@teachingadhdllamas Visit TikTok to discover videos!
When a user suggested boys should join in on her daughter's protest, Stasia responded by calling out the double standard with the school's dress code.
“I’m so glad you say that because boys did wear crop tops yesterday and none of them got sent home," she said.
"Fast forward to today, my daughter is dress-coded in the first 10 minutes [of school] and sent to the office … A boy asked why he was not being dress-coded for his crop top today, [and] they told him to go back to class."
"So what he did was he went back to class and kept cutting his shirt until they dress-coded him.”
@teachingadhdllamas Visit TikTok to discover videos!
TikTokers continued commenting with positive reactions.
@teachingadhdllamas/TikTok
@teachingadhdllamas/TikTok
@teachingadhdllamas/TikTok
@teachingadhdllamas/TikTok
@teachingadhdllamas/TikTok
@teachingadhdllamas/TikTok
The topic of dress codes being discriminatory towards female students has been an ongoing discussion.
According to a 2018 article by Education Weekly, schools have argued that imposing strict dress "prevent in-class distractions, create a workplace-like environment, reduce pressures based on socioeconomic status, and deter gang activity."
But in the age of the #MeToo movement and increasing internet activity, strict dress codes have become a controversial topic.
Arguments against dress codes include whether it's worthwhile to ban students in violation of the policy from classrooms and whether or not the rules disproportionately affect girls, especially female students of color.
The American Civil Liberties Union dictates on their website that public schools can have dress codes, "but under federal law, dress codes can’t treat students differently based on their gender, force students to conform to sex stereotypes, or censor particular viewpoints."
They also stated dress codes had to be enforced equally, meaning, "rules against 'revealing' clothing, such as bans on tank tops or leggings, shouldn’t be enforced only or disproportionately against girls."