High school is a tough time for teenage girls. Their bodies are changing. The constant peer pressure to fit in and be accepted and of course, fashion magazines make it even worse for teen girls.
As a result, teen girls often resort to starving themselves or take up other eating disorders, all in a desperate attempt to fit in. During this delicate time, teen girls need assurance more than ever that they are loved, and accepted, and their worth doesn’t come from their body.
But one principal did the unthinkable when she publicly unleashed a cruel body shaming comment towards young girls.
In front of all to see, she rudely told these girls unless they were a size zero or two, they should be careful what they wear.
Café Mom reported:

“Heather Taylor, principal of Stratford High School in South Carolina, told her ninth and tenth-grade students her thoughts on leggings during two different school assemblies — and her harsh words are shocking both students and parents. “I’m going to tell you now, unless you are a size zero or two and you wear something like that, you look fat,” Taylor can be heard saying in a recording made during the lecture.”

Having a high school principal tell young girls unless they are a size zero or two they would look fat in leggings is unconscionable.
As if teen girls need anything else to be insecure about.
The principal unleashed her comments at a rally and was met with a backlash of comments from angry parents.
One parent, in particular, posted the following comment to her personal Facebook page, speaking out on what happened.

“While going over the dress code — instead of simply stating that the district prohibits leggings — [Taylor] states she told the girls that although they may have been able to get away with wearing leggings in middle school while they had no figure, that now that they are not a size 0/2, and have curves, that leggings are not flattering,” Lacy Thompson-Harper wrote.
“She brought size and her own opinion into it, and admitted that she said it…
Body shaming teenage girls is uncalled for, inappropriate and unprofessional,” she wrote. “When I spoke with [Taylor], she talked around the issue, and made excuse after excuse, effectively calling all of the students liars.”

All this principal had to do was go over the dress code.
She could have even spoke against leggings, but by bringing size into the mix, it further adds to the body shaming young girls face each day.
CNN reported on the body shaming teen girls face with school dress codes:

“One 15-year-old girl, who we’re not naming to protect her privacy, said she was given an in-school suspension for wearing shorts that were to her mid-thigh. Her teacher suggested that her clothing was suggestive and that she was “asking for it.”
She says boys wear shorts that are shorter than hers and don’t get in trouble.
“I feel bad because it’s my body … and there’s no reason for the school to be telling me that I have to cover it up,” she said.
The message her school is sending her, she said, is that she should cover up and be ashamed.
“If I show a little bit of my body, I’m considered a bad girl,” she said. “Just because I’m wearing this doesn’t mean that I want people to look at me sexually. I want to be seen as a woman. I don’t want to have to feel bad about my body.”

Teen girls are constantly sent mixed messages. From the principal telling them they are too fat, to one teacher telling a 15-year old girl she is “asking for it”, neither of these messages are what teen girls need to hear.
They should be taught to be valued for who they are as young women, for their intellect and talents.
Young women need older women to look up to as role models.
They need guidance, not criticism.
Hopefully, educators wake up and realize the power their words have on the future generation before it’s too late.