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This Girl Was Humiliated And Forced To Put Band-Aids Over Her Nipples After Not Wearing A Bra To School

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Last week, a 17-year-old student at Braden River High School in Bradenton, Florida was embarrassed and mortified when she was pulled from class for a ridiculous reason.

Lizzy Martinez when to school last Monday wearing an over-sized, long-sleeve Calvin Klein shirt without a bra. Although she was not wearing a bra, the shirt was clearly large enough to cover her.

BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed

During 5th period, Martinez was pulled from her classroom and sent down to the dean’s office, after claiming “her nipples were distracting other students,” and a boy was laughing at her. The dean said she was “violating the school’s dress code policy.

Not only was she pulled from class, but Martinez told BuzzFeed that she was forced to put on another shirt over her already over-sized one, and, had her jump around in place to see “how much her breasts moved.” She claims the entire situation mortified her. She was then sent to the nurses’ office, already after putting another shirt on, to apply four Band-Aids to her nipples.

They told me to cross out my nipples and I just went to the bathroom and cried. I was in shock that it was such a big deal that I wasn’t wearing a bra. Most days I don’t wear one. It depends on my mood. I’m not wearing one right now, and why should it matter?”

Martinez tweeted about the incident on Twitter and hours later, the school had blocked her account on Twitter entirely.

Martinez’s mother, Kari Knop, said she was outraged when she received a call from the school and then from her daughter in tears. She claimed that the incident showcased society’s double standard and is an example of body-shaming women, especially her daughter.

“This whole issue was really eye-opening for me and puts things in perspective because I also have a 13-year-old son and, at that age, they have erections on accident and no one calls them out or sends them home. Why is a 17-year-old girl’s breast moving any different? It’s a collection of fat cells. They had to ask her to stand up and bounce her breasts around to show it was a distraction. So how was it a distraction?”

Knop said she also spoke with the school’s principal, who said she didn’t see anything wrong with her daughter’s outfit that day. Knop claimed that the school unfairly targeted her daughter and posted several things online about it. In a Facebook post, she wrote:

Gets worse and worse for Braden River High School….. received a phone call from the principal today, first claiming that she was present the entire time and no one asked my daughter to stand up and move around… I flipped a lid and demanded my daughter and all involved parties be called into her office and to call me back, so they can tell my daughter she was lying. Then it was the principal wasn’t present the entire time……

Phone call back, they did in fact ask my child to stand up and move around.

After multiple attempts to justify actions and me continuously cutting them off. They told me she was sent to office because multiple kids were talking about her. . . So I asked if any of the kids that were bullying (by talking about her) were addressed, it quickly changed from “talking” to “looking”…. I asked if any of them were told to look at her face and not her chest… SILENCE. I asked if boys are sent to office to put an undershirt on when their nipples get hard….SILENCE. I asked if boys that are wearing their basketball shorts and boxer briefs are ever asked to stand up and move around….. I got a very exaggerated “no”…. I said “of course not because it would be inappropriate, just like it was INAPPROPRIATE to ask my daughter to move around.” I also said if it were a male dean, you wouldn’t even be on the phone trying to justify it. The principal cut me off and said no male dean was present….. I said “if” and it doesn’t matter if it was a male or female it should NEVER have happened.

I am just getting madder and madder.

I was rude. I don’t care. You called my kid a liar, not knowing ALL the facts prior to calling me to justify your schools actions. Shame on you. You asked my daughter to move around, so you could see her breasts move. Shame on you.

Days after the incident occurred, the district’s general counsel said the situation was indeed mishandled, however, Martinez broke “school rules” by not wearing a bra.

“This matter was brought to the attention of the Superintendent’s Office for review. It is undisputed that this matter should have been handled differently at the school level and corrective measures have been taken to prevent a reoccurrence in the way these matters will be addressed in the future. There was a violation of the School Dress Code and it was an appropriate matter to address by the School. It is clear the intent of school officials was to assist the student in addressing the situation. No disciplinary action was taken in relation to the student.”

However, neither the school’s dress code policy or the rules of the school district state anywhere that students need to wear a bra while attending classes. However, the policy does state:

if a student’s “personal attire or grooming distracts the attention of other students or teachers from their school work, disrupts educational activities and processes of the school, or is a potential safety hazard, you will be required to make the necessary alterations to such attire or grooming before entering the classroom or you may be assigned to In-School Suspension (ISS).”

Knop, however, is not pleased with the reaction of the school or the district and has since spoken with the superintendent, who claims they will be looking into the school’s dress code policy and making “necessary changes.” However, Martinez has not returned to school for an entire day because she feels incredibly uncomfortable–but, wants to make this situation a bigger discussion about the over-sexualization of women in society.

“It’s very uncomfortable for people to talk about but this is a big issue that a lot of girls feel targeted and sexualized and have to live up to a standard of what we have to look like and wear,” she said. “So I’m just going out and putting myself out there and starting this conversation because we obviously still need to have it.”

h/t BuzzFeed