In some country, the dress style of girls in the classroom is under discussion. In Spain, the male teachers themselves appear in front of the blackboard in dress or skirt. For several months now, a campaign has been underway for more diversity within the school walls. The ball started rolling when a student was expelled from school for wearing a female dress.
Mikel Gómez (15) received the ‘friendly advice’ in October to see a psychologist. In a TikTok video, the young man made it clear that the choice of clothing does not define him as a person. “Everyone now thinks I’m gay, but even that’s not true. With my action, I only wanted to give feminists and transgender people a boost,” it sounds.
A message that was clearly not well understood by the management of his school. The young man did receive support from his mathematics teacher. In protest of the suspension, Jose Piñas launched the hashtag #laropanotienegenero, meaning ‘clothing has no gender’. To top it all off, he himself stood in short skirts in front of the school desks.
“Twenty years ago, I experienced it myself. At the school where I now teach, I was cursed for my sexual orientation. Many teachers then looked the other way. I now want to rally behind Mikel,” it said in a tweet.
The new movement that arose in this way quickly gained ground. Several colleagues did not hesitate to appear in front of their students in a skirt or dress.
A new case surfaced in Valladolid last month. A student was bullied and treated homophobic after showing up wearing a T-shirt with a Japanese animated character. Teachers Manuel Ortega (37) and Borja Velaquez (36) took their most beautiful skirts from the wardrobe and jumped into the breach for him.
“We have maintained that for a month, and we are still noticing a positive effect. But this is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg.” “We were shocked by all the bullying. A school should be a beacon of respect, diversity and tolerance. Dress however you want. We support the ‘Clothing has no gender’ campaign.”
However, there is also the necessary criticism. Is all this really necessary, opponents wonder. “With the best will in the world, we don’t understand why boys have to go to school in a skirt now,” they say.
