Student body-shamed for wearing perfectly awesome prom dress. We’re concerned.
If you wear a long-sleeved, floor-length gown to prom, you would assume you were basically following every prom dress code in the country. Crazily enough, it seems that wasn’t the case for Alexus Miller-Wigfall of Harrisburg High School in Pennsylvania, who wore a rocking red long-sleeved, floor-length gown to prom recently, and then, just a few days later, as PennLive reports, Miller-Wigfall was informed that she would have to serve an in-school suspension because her prom dress was deemed “too revealing.”
Here’s a shot of Alexus and her date, off to prom:
If you’re like, “Wait, how is THAT too revealing?” we are totally with you.
As PennLive reports, there were girls at the dance who were asked to wear shawls to cover dresses deemed “too revealing” but no authority figures said anything to Miller-Wigfall about her gown at prom with the exception of the district superintendent who reportedly COMPLIMENTED Alexus on her dress.
Alexus’ mother, Alisha Sneed, states that the school never contacted her about the suspension or the reason for the suspension. She also asserts that the school has failed to return her multiple phone calls. As for the matter of her daughter’s dress, Sneed doesn’t see what the problem was.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Sneed told PennLive. “I don’t see anything wrong with that dress. What do they want her to wear, a turtleneck?”
Thankfully, the suspension was dropped, but that doesn’t mean the problem just disappeared.
Sneed believes that the reason her daughter was targeted was because she was plus-sized, and that the district’s problem wasn’t with the dress itself, but rather that, due to Alexus’ body shape, the high-schooler has more cleavage than many of her peers.
“You have more boobs than other girls,” Miller-Wigfall claims one faculty member told her. “The other girls have less to show.”
The school district has not directly commented on their actions, but did release the following statement to PennLive:
“The Harrisburg School District believes that proms are celebratory and memorable events in the lives of its students. Our administration, school board, faculty and advisors strive to ensure that students enjoy themselves immensely, while abiding by attire guidelines and expectations that support and promote the elegance of the prom season.”
Unfortunately, we see a similar story play out frequently on social media. Instagram has become notorious for deleting the accounts of plus-sized girls also deemed to be wearing outfits that are “too revealing” while doing nothing about the accounts of smaller-sized girls wearing the exact same thing. It seems that this double-standard is also playing out at high school proms, and it is unfair and wrong of administrations to treat girls differently, even punish them, based on their size OR their gender.
We stand with Alexus Miller-Wigfall, who looked classy as heck and gorgeous as all get out in her glam-times-infinity prom dress, and we hope her district sees this as a teachable moment, examines their own prejudices, and gets itself back on track, making sure they are treating all their students fairly and equally.
(Images via)
