'Clothes have no gender': School students celebrate November 4 as ‘Wear a skirt to school day’

Students from a school in Scotland are breaking stereotypes by wearing skirts to school. Students of Castleview Primary School of Edinburgh in Scotland wanted to support the #ClothesHaveNoGender initiative that originated in Spain. Castleview tweeted that their P6 class was working towards creating a more inclusive environment. "SO proud of our P6’s who wrote to our leadership team to ask if we could support #clotheshavenogender #LaRopaNoTieneGenero. We promote respect, tolerance, and understanding and we want our school to be inclusive and promote equality," tweeted the school. 

The #LaRopaNoTieneGenero (clothes have no gender) movement started in Spain when a student by the name of Mikel Gómez was expelled for wearing a skirt to school in October 2020. He was also asked to consult a psychologist for wearing a skirt, implying that he had mental issues. Gómez told El Pais that he had worn a skirt in support of trans people and feminists. Some of the male teachers at the school decided to wear skirts to school to show their support for Mikel, kicking off the #ClothesHaveNoGender campaign. Gómez uploaded a video of him calling out the school and it spurred hundreds of boys to wear skirts in protest. By November, it had snowballed into a full-fledged movement with boy students and teachers all over the country wearing clothes stereotypically deemed feminine.

This nationwide movement sparked debate and conversation on the subject and gave birth to “wear a skirt to school” day which is now celebrated every year on November 4. The students at the Scottish school wore skirts to break stereotypes and take a stand against toxic masculinity. Nicola, the mom of a student at Castleview Primary School also shared an image of her son Ethan wearing a skirt, smiling and giving a thumbs up to the campaign. “The majority of upper school took part, some P6 boys wore their skirts once in school on Friday too," Nicola told Bored Panda. “The school [and its students were] mostly supportive. Ethan enjoyed taking part as he was happy to show his support.”

There was an uproar online with many criticizing the school but Nicola said the school offered a safe space for the students and added that nothing was forced on the kids. “The school makes sure the kids feel they have a safe space to express themselves and know that they can express their own views and opinions,” said Nicola. “These people are entitled to their own views and opinions on the subject, but not to personally attack us for what we support our children doing," she added, pointing out that it ultimately was about supporting the children to make their own choices.

The school's tweet and Nicola's statement sparked a fierce debate online. "This is outrageous. and if I had a child attending this school I would be making a formal complaint," wrote one parent. One person opined that the students' efforts to tackle toxic masculinity was an attack on masculinity itself. "They don't want men anymore, stripping them of their masculinity," wrote one person. Another poked fun at those outraged by the news, pointing out that Scots often wore kilts, the traditional dress of Gaelic men and boys, which resembles a skirt.

It's important for kids to have inclusive teachers at school as was the case with Mikel Gómez. One of his teachers, Jose Piñas wore a skirt to school and posted a picture of himself wearing one. He reflected on his own childhood and wrote on Twitter, "20 years ago I suffered persecution and insults for my sexual orientation in high school where I am now a teacher, many teachers, they looked the other way. I want to join the cause of the student, Mikel, who has been expelled and sent to the psychologist for going to class with a skirt."