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The Girls From This Kentucky High School Are So Over Dress Code ‘Shame'

If you're not sure where you stand on the dress code debate, these young women may change your mind.

Sitting down in front of a camera, female students from Woodford County High School (WCHS) in Versailles, Kentucky, timidly point to parts of their bodies -- shoulders, collarbone, legs above-the-knees -- these things are "forbidden."

That's reportedly the way things are under the school's notoriously rigid dress code. Back in May, student Maggie Sunseri put together a video for a filmmaking project that dug a bit deeper into what the dress codes mean. Gathering up some of her fellow classmates, they share the feelings of confusion, frustration and, yes, shame that come with a dress code that mostly targets young women.

"It made me feel embarrassed and pretty much violated in front of my peers," one student said, of being flagged for a dress code violation. "Like, to be called out and to miss time from my education that was actually an important class to go fix my jeans and call my mom out of work to bring me new jeans. ... It was embarrassing."

Stacie Dunn, one student's parent, wrote on Facebook earlier this month that her daughter was flagged for a distracting outfit and later sent home for showing "attitude." The issue? Her collarbone was showing and the scarf her mom brought still didn't do enough to hide that oh-so-offensive bit of skin.

Later, Dunn posted an update saying that the principal (featured in the video) met with students to discuss a more "reasonable dress code change proposal" that he'd present to the school board and also said that she was a part of a "dress code committee" that would begin meeting to discuss more effective and less shame-based options for the school's dress code.

These girls are total rock stars for sharing their stories and we're so looking forward to see where this story goes!

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