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Somewhere, Sid Vicious is snickering. Who'd have thought that almost three and a half decades since Britain's preeminent punk rock band, The Sex Pistols, first reared their spiky scalps and coughed up a viscous gob of phlegm at the world, they could still spark any semblance of controversy? Well, for a group of students in the small town of Forks, Wash. (an infamous burg already beset by hordes of obsessed teen vampire devotees for being the epicenter of all things “Twilight”), the very name “Sex Pistols” has proved to still pack the power to offend.
After a student was instructed to remove a Sex Pistols T-shirt by a Forks High School official, former student body president Devon Chastain donned the offending garment herself and refused to take it off. As a result, she was sent home. The incident sparked a punky domino effect of sorts, as nine other students then staged a protest in front of the school in support of their suspended classmate, distributing more T-shirts bearing the Sex Pistols’ fabled ransom-note logo. In turn, these students were also suspended.
In their defense, Forks High School officials cite that the student handbook expressly prohibits wearing clothing bearing sexual connotations. One might have imagined that the prurient interpretation of the band’s moniker would have been somewhat defanged in the past three decades of being emblazoned on T-shirts available at shopping malls around the world (also available in toddler sizes). Trainspotting apologists could also point out that late Sex Pistols’ manager Malcolm McLaren coined the band’s name to make them sound like “sexy young assassins,” and not necessarily as a lascivious innuendo, but that’s all rather academic.
Parents, how would you feel if your child was sent home from school for wearing a Sex Pistols T-shirt? Are the folks in Forks maybe just a bit too sensitive in the wake of “Twilight” hysteria? Are these suspensions justifiable discipline or much ado about nothing? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
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I had a Sex Pistols tee shirt in high school. I wore it too. lighten up, i think once a kid reaches that age the word sex shouldn't be something snickered over like it's a bad word.
Seriously, the Sex Pistols is so old as to be a non-issue. What's next, getting sent home for wearing a t-shirt with "Elvis the Pelvis?" It's not anywhere as bad as some punk shirts I've had ("Too Drunk to F***k" by the Dead Kennedys was one.) And way back in the 80's when we wore them, we would simply be asked to turn them inside out if the message offended. Not suspended! This was an overreaction and a waste of everyone's time.
Oh my Lord- these same people that put down today's teenagers sound like my grandma and grandpa talking about my aunts and uncles as I was growing up(they had 6 children over 36 years). everything pre- Glenn Miller was the only righteous music. Everything is too politically "incorrect" ,even the "holiday"season- nobody can agree on how to demonstrate your believes without "offending " someone on some stupid level. This IS America and I didn't sign my name on the dotted line (USMC) to have B.S. people tell ME What I should send MY children to school wearing. I understand the GANG thing, but don't take away what I and hundreds of thousands have fought for!
This goes out to the BIGOTS and the recently appointed (by themselves) Do Gooders.
How many friends did I have who wore those shirts in high school? If we don't let kids have some form of acceptable rebellion (and I think we can all agree it could be much worse than a punk band tshirt) they will find another way to let us know they are individuals. Interesting how this has snowballed. Instead of a non-issue if the administrators had let it ride and had one kid wearing a band tshirt, it's now 10 kids suspended. Think how many precious teaching and learning hours were wasted in that school district in one week.
If its legal to wear on a city street it should be legal to wear to school. This is just another case of mediocre school officials trying to pump up their own egos and delusions of grandeur by enforcing ridiculous, draconian dress codes. Out of the school setting they're spineless, mindless nobodies. Perhaps we could be more competitive as a nation if schools would focus on education rather than enforcing artificial nerdism.
Excuse me? If it is legal to wear on the street, they should be allowed to wear it in school? So "hooker garb" should be allowed in school halls? Shorts that basically just cover the cheeks should be allowed in school? Lady Gaga inspired outfits should be allowed in school? "Draconian dress-codes" are enforced for a reason. So everyone is equal and unnecessary attention is not being focused on clothing that does not belong in a school setting. Look at Japan, China, and other high performance schools, they wear uniforms.
In many places it's legal for women to go topless, should this be legal in high schools?
Honestly I've felt bad for kids lately. Every year that goes by they're treated more and more like felons.
Hmmmm, hellz yeah, sounds awsome, lets go topless to high school... If that was the case when I was in high school, I'd be the first to school and the last to leave......I'd be all over the edumacation thing...
Agreed, Hannahsmom.
It's just a t-shirt! No wonder everyone is running around suing everyone and being offended at the slightest things. Did the school force her to go home because a student complained? Or because they felt that the shirt truly violated their dress code?
Also, I don't really see what Twilight has to do with anything other than the fact that this happened in the town also popularized in the novel. I clicked the headline thinking a bunch of fang-laden teenage girls were terrorizing the local public.
This story is more fluff and non-story than anything else. Unless the kids are wearing shirts with bomb instructions or sexual positions or something, who cares? At least they were at school!
I dont know, I am rather mixed on this one. First, I don't think the T-shirts were a big deal. We all know the name and are very used to it. However...there is one thing that I find myself constantly becoming frustrated over. We set guidlines and rules for teenagers in school. They are there to create unity, harmony and also protect the teens from themselves and each other. Those rules are also in place to ensure a place of learning. What I constantly find irritating is when the rules are known, the students and parents sign them and then a student breaks the rules and then says it is a statement of personal opinion. NO IT IS NOT...you are breaking the rules. Take it off. I think when we allow teens to constantly break the rules..push the standards...they NEVER learn to respect the rules. They are there for a reason and that is what I find so offensive. Parents get upset when the kids get in trouble for breaking a well defined agreed upon rule. Why do we encourage our teeens to continue to break rules?? When will they learn respect if we allow them this? They then become adults and want every thing handed to them and know no respect or limits at all. I see this constantly at the universe I am attending and it just floors me, how kids today, believe that the world owes them everything. They have no respect for the rules that are in place, the professors, their parents or others around them. So my feeling is this...was the T-shirt a bad thing..no Perhaps the school could have just pulled the teen to the side and told her/him that the shirt broke the rules and not to wear it again and issue would have been solved. But the school was clear in the rules and the rules were broken.
Another thing kids need to learn are when "the rules" are arbitrary, and when a rule is being misused for a non-valid reason, versus when they are actually there to protect people, and when to protest. How about a "Question Authority" t-shirt? This was a good lesson in peaceful protest against a misuse of policy.
Also, good luck in the "universe" that you are attending! I think I must be attending the same one. Spiral galaxy? :)
I must say I disagree, I constantly had run ins with "Authority Figures" in my high school. I understand that they have a job to do, I can concede to that, but we cannot treat "kids," with their own personalities, and their own realities, like children who can't censor or control themselves. I find no relevance in a system which says that Teenagers cannot express themselves, yet at the same time, try to preach tolerance, this idea seems insane to me. I found it completely disgusting that those in high school cannot exercise their will. I am familiar with the Supreme Courts history regarding this issue, but that doesn't make it any more rational.
LaVonMarie, as a parent of said protester, i can tell you that the official school dress code says no clothing with "sexual refferences." She and her fellow protesters to do not believe that the term Sex Pistols has any sexual references. the school principal said since the word 'sex' was a part of the word 'sexual' that deemed it inapropriate and in violation of the dress code.
the students decided to do a silent, peaceful protest to show solidarity. all protestors were instructed to wear the shirt with insignificance and to not discuss it inside the classroom unless instructed to buy their teacher. no disrespect, defiance, etc were to be displayed by the protestors. the administration started suspending kids before the bell rang. the suspensions went on all day. the kids were bullied, verbally assaulted, and were submitted to unnecessary search and seizure by school staff.
the only disruption to the edcuational process took place by the administration . so many students were denied their education that day because of one teacher's opinion of what was offensive.
these are good kids, leaders among their peers. they have studied civics and the Sex Pistols in school. the really know their stuff and didn't just do this because they were bored, or have issues with authority and they are not your average trouble makers. anyway, thought you may apreciate a closer insight into this story.
Well said LaVonMarie! Here's my take, and what I also teach my son. There are rules in life, in school, in your workplace and we may not always agree with them. However, we need to abide by them. Period. If we disagree with them ENOUGH then we need to take the proper steps. What would have been the proper steps in THIS situation? Go to the school board and bring your request to a vote. Do you want to change the rule? Do you want to just alter the rule? Have a solution when you go to speak about WHY you disagree with said rule. But to show up to school KNOWINGLY breaking the rule that the school set forth that you must agree to before attending that school? Wrong! What are we teaching our kids? If you don't agree with something take a stand a flip off the authorities? I think it's silly that the school sent home the first kid with the Sex Pistols t-shirt. But...THAT'S THEIR RULE! You can't get the school board to change the rule? Then you have to conform while you're at that place during a certain time of day. School bell rings? Put on the damn shirt and wear it proudly. AFTER school! You STILL have an issue with THAT? Move. Yeah, in these hard times...yada yada yada...You can't move? You can't go to another school? You can't find a charter school where you can "express yourself"? Follow the rules. Why are we pusing our kids to "make a stand" when they're at school to LEARN and become adults? Isn't this distracting them from their studies? I can't come in to my work place wearing a Sex Pistols shirt, although I'd like to. Am I going to jeopardize my job, my income, my career by giving the owner of the company a silent F*** YOU by wearing the shirt that I was told not to? NO, but I'll put it on as soon as I get home. Come on people, REALLY? How about we teach our kids the RIGHT way to go about changing the rules?
Tell the kids to wear shirts that say "Sextuplets"
Forkschik,
It is always good to hear the other side of the story and I am glad that the teenagers were respectful in their protest. It is clear then that the school needs to clarify the rules and standards on clothing. However, I still feel the same way about teens and rules. There are the right places and proper times for self expression and individualism. Schools do have the right times and place to allow students to express themselves, however the rules I am speaking about that I often see being broke: cell phone usage during classes, homework due dates, plagiarism, the use of swearing and language during passing time, internet usage for improper things and the examples could go on. All of this goes on and the parent or child argue that they have a right to all of this...NO you do not. Your behavior degrades the performance of the entire school and is a disruption to the education of all students...that is why there are rules.
I believe have a right to peacefully and respectfully protest a rule if they believe it is incorrect or overbearing. This is a fantastic way for students to learn respect, due process and the right to individualism and speech. I am sorry to see that the school did not handle it better... I am sure in the future they will be a little more clear on the rules and perhaps take a lesson in how to handle a situation like that. And yes sometimes it just takes one person...on either side to blow something way up...
I will also agree on another thing..for the most part...all our kids are great kids...we just are cheating them when we allow them to bend the rules on a consistent basis and that is what I see around me constantly...in the college I attend and in the schools that I volunteer for.
I agree with you 100%!
You have to be kidding me. Suspended over a T-shirt with the word sex on it? Someone has some serious repressed issues. It really is time for the USA to get over the out of date victorian hang ups. Also time for parents to regien in the out of control school and PC police.
Maybe the school was afraid it would lose its sex-free Twilight image if some tourist on holy pilgrimage to Forks caught sight of it and got OMG OFFENDED and it cost the town precious Twilight fan money! The horror!
This is nothing. I went to England when I was 17 and I wore a Sex Pistols T-Shirt to go see the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels. The shirt had Johnny Rotten's face on it and said "Bollocks," which is British slang for testicles. Anyhow, one of the guards to the Jewels forced me to cover the shirt up, a direct quote from him, "Your shirt is a personal affront to the Queen of England." So you kids out in Forks, keep wearing your Sex Pistols gear. Screw the conformist attitudes!
I have always taught my children that just because a law or rule is dumb, does NOT give you the right to ignore it. I have told them that they should work within the system to change bad rules and bad laws but if everyone got to pick and choose what rules to follow the world would be out of control.
Honestly, this has nothing to do with the "sex pistols" themselves, the t-shirt, or the poor justification given by the school for suspension of the teens. I grew up in this town. Forks was just an ordinary logging "hick" town 10-15 years ago, an hours drive from any other sort of population in Port Angeles to the north or Hoberdeen to the south (Aberdeen and Hoquim are basically the same city anymore).
It used to be legal and permitted to have hunting rifles in the back windows of our trucks parked on school property during the day. Now if you have a pellet gun in your car, you may be expelled, not to mention thrown in jail. Forks is just trying to keep up with the rest of the country, who's teenage population has lost it's mind. They are only suspending the teens for this because the rest of the country tells them to do so. This wouldn't even be an issue a decade ago. I had a hat with a big pot leaf on it and a cartoon hand giving a middle finger salute on a t-shirt that I used to wear regularly. No one bothered me about it. Show me some proof that banning a t-shirt will improve the kid's ability to concentrate in school and learn something.
This has less to do with Forks and more to do with the growing rate of PC everywhere, especially in schools. How about working on improving our country's now second rate, or even third rate, school systems rather than spending so much time making ridiculous rules for kids to worry about. Put some effort into stemming the drug and alcohol problems in the town, a serious problem afflicting many areas, especially small towns where the kids are given little other options of something to do.
I really feel this is a waste of everyone's time and energy and that the school should be held accountable for punishing those who are expressing thier legal right to protest a government institution for going too far... again.
We are in Violet Agreement, sir.
I believe that it's a cultural disservice to people my age and still in High School to attempt to censor our students, does this not present a dramatic contrast to everyday life? Nothing is censored in real life. People have to learn to function in a coherent way in any civilization. When was the last time you heard of someone violently lashing out at someone on the street for wearing an edgy/blue/risqué/offensive/whatever T-shirt.
I understand that schools are culturally expected to have a certain "professionalism" and "neutral" view on everything. I think this raises, once again, the amount of realism that is involved in this sort of view point. Does this sort of abashment against "the system" as it were not impress upon people that it's okay to marginalize people of a certain expression? The idea that we are all equal is not put forth in this current system of cyclic arbitrary censorship. Is it not better to expect of students that they respect the individual liberties of everyone else, no matter how that other person should choose to express themselves?
First we teach the kids to read then we teach them to think and when they finally think for themselves everyone wants them to go back to being babies and thinking for them. As far as the tee shirts go I go back to the 60's when I was suspended more than once for the leanth of my hair. If I lived in Forks, which I do know where it is at, I would be in front of the school with the kids protesting. GO FORKS KIDS.
Small town educators love power plays. Its the only thing that makes them feel important in their frustrated and bored little lives.
Part of high school is pushing the envelope and seeing what you can get away with. Every generation has something, in the early 90’s it was the Johnson t-shirts. School administrators have to fight with the students about something otherwise they have nothing to justify their paychecks.
What if the T-shirts had just said "Imagine"! That might have provoked thought and a burning at the stake.
March those hoodlums right out of the school and save our future!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sex only leads to more kids.
LaVonMarie, you hit it right on the head.
When the Sex Pistols hit the scene, I was married with children. The Sex Pistols name I thought to be rather stupid but didn't care. But, as LaVonMarie stated earlier, the parents and the children agreed to the rules BEFORE they entered that school. The all knew ahead of time what they could do and not do but now choose to break the rules and then whine about it.
Well, get over it and lose the shirts and get back in class.
And in the 60's high school students were sent home for Beatle haircuts. School administration attracts megalomaniacs who feel a need to assert their dominance.
Ever been to Forks? Nothin but a bunch of dumb loggers, suprised they could even read the t-shirts.
yep that would be Forks.
These rules are arbitrary and unnecessary and you are forced to sign a letter agreeing to them. I've never heard of dress codes being subject to discussion. If my kid was suspended for wearing a Sex Pistols t-shirt I would fight the school and this is why:
I started school in 1968. Girls were not allowed to wear pants unless the temperature dipped below 65. I live in Southern California so that rarely happened. We wore dresses and skirts and if you can remember 1968 you know how short those dresses and mini-skirts were. I once saw a 6th grader suspended for wearing jeans. Flash forward to 1980. By then, I'd wore jeans to school every day for about a decade. My friends and I listened to punk rock so one day my friend wore a mini-skirt with her converse. I watched her get suspended for wearing a mini-skirt.
let me started by saying that I hope the parents of all the kids that were suspended complained to the school board because the school system needs to get with the times it's called freedom of speach we fought the Nazis in WW2 for that right I guess the Fork High School, school system are the new Nazis so WAR DECLARED all I can say is being it on and your'll get smacked right back down
So this is what our schools are teaching our kids these days...Do what we say, or ELSE! While I haven't done anything like that when I was in HS (I was the lone and shy type), this is just outright D-U-M-B.
I mean come ON! Post 9-11, and we have Principle McVicker (Bonus kudos if you know what series HE came from!) nitpicking about the dress code. Granted, there should be some limits to good taste, but lately it has been the no-fly zone...where the I-'heart'-boobies bracelets are banned, football players suspended for wearing pink cleats (to support breast cancer awareness, for cripes sake!), and even for long hair (in KINDERGARTEN no less!). What are we going to do, let these wannabee kings and queens put our kids in burqas and sackcloth?
These kind of incidents teach kids one thing...don't rock the boat, or we'll drown you. Kids should be taught to fend for themselves and stand up for their rights, like these brave teens. If you wonder why we are no longer the proud land of the free and home of the brave...just read more stories like this, and you will know why.
PS...Be involved! Support your kids, make your educators toe the line, and if they pull crap like this, make them explain themselves IN FULL during the PTA meetings. Go even one better and run for the school council seats available...the power of the purse can go a looooong way!
Of course they protested the school. It is what a punk would do: protest, and shash things, brink bad beer, and get your daughter pregnant. But seriously, I simply cannot believe they got national news for being simple punks. Kids today, with their rock and their roll! ;>
Well your point is all well and good except for one thing... She didn't break the rules. The rules 'prohibit wearing clothing bearing sexual connotations.' This is the name of a band, not an advetisement for anything relating to sex. This is about as rediculous as anything I've heard lately. Just because it has the word 'sex' does not a sexual connotation make. And vice versa... there's lots of other things I've seen on t-shirts that ARE sexual in nature but don't contain the word sex. Pick your battles people, and don't let your irritation at being man-handled and bullied as teens yourself teach our youth to abuse their power when they're grown.