WEST MILFORD, N.J. (AP) — A teenager has left a permanent mark on her long-running battle against her high school’s dress code.
Eighteen-year-old West Milford High School senior Victoria DiPaolo chose a black off-the-shoulder top for her senior photo, and her yearbook quote below the photo reads: “I’m sorry, did my shoulders distract you from reading this quote?”
The school says it prohibits tops that expose stomachs, shorts and skirts that are deemed a distraction and anything with rips, tears or holes that make the garment revealing or suggestive.
DiPaolo says she always thought the dress code was unfair.
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“It’s all based on sexism, and it is completely unreasonable,” DiPaolo told Yahoo Style . “Over the past four years, myself and many of my friends have received dress code violations for clothes that were nowhere near inappropriate.”
The senior, who graduates next week, took a strong stance when she was reprimanded by administrators. She said she remembers a time when she was asked to change by the principal because her shirt was too revealing by the school’s standards.
“At one point I put a shirt right over mine, asked if my principal was happy, then got up and walked out of his office and ripped off the T-shirt,” she said. “I got pretty rebellious, but I never actually received disciplinary action because I argued my point; no one likes to hear that they’re sexist and oppressive.”
DiPaolo joked about the yearbook on Twitter and told Yahoo Style the students’ consensus is that the dress code is ridiculous.