What occurred at Braden River High School in Florida, U.S.A. has been making waves across social media: in an abhorrent act ofbody-shaming of a teenage girl, Lizzy Martinez was forced by her teachers and headmaster to apply bandages to her nipples in an act to hide them. The reason: the boys in her class were getting ‘distracted’.
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When body-shaming crosses a line
When speaking with BuzzFeed, the young student revealed what had gone down:
I was in shock that it was such a big deal that I wasn't wearing a bra.
One boy in her class was laughing because he was able to see her lack of bra, and teachers deemed that as a dress code violation. When sent to the headmaster’s office,she was further humiliated by the faculty:
They had me put on a second shirt and then stand up and, like, move and jump around to see how much my breasts moved I was mortified.
Following this demonstration in the headmaster’s office, she was sent to the nurse where she was given a total of 4 plasters to apply to cover up her nipples.
Lizzy’s mother Kari Knop, as well as tens of thousands of others across the internet, are disgusted by the acts of the school – and understandably so. Knop claims:
It's a disgusting example of double standards and shows how our culture body-shames women. If a boy was staring at her nipples that long why was he not spoken to or punished?
