17-year-old Lizzy Martinez said in a tweet that after deciding not to wear a bra with a t-shirt to school, she was pulled out of class because she was a distraction to boys.
I decided not to wear a bra today and got pulled out of class bc one of my teachers complained that it was a “distraction to boys in my class.” My school basically told me that boys’ education is far more important than mine and I should be ashamed of my body. @Manateeschools :)
— liz (@lizzymartineez) April 2, 2018
According to BuzzFeed News, Martinez was directed to the dean's office where she was told that her nipples and breasts were "distracting" and causing a boy to laugh at her, therefore violating the school's dress code policy.
What followed was even more ridiculous.
"[School officials] had me put on a second shirt and then stand up and, like, move and jump around to see how much my breasts moved," Martinez told BuzzFeed News. "I was mortified."
She was then given four Band-Aids to put over her nipples.
"They told me to cross out my nipples and I just went to the bathroom and cried," Martinez told BuzzFeed News. "I was in shock that it was such a big deal that I wasn't wearing a bra. Most days I don't wear one. It depends on my mood. I'm not wearing one right now, and why should it matter?"
Martinez later found out that after tweeting about what happened, her high school, Braden River High School, had blocked her on the social media platform.
*school has student put bandaids over her nipples because it is a “distraction” then blocks them for calling them out on sexualizing her* :/ pic.twitter.com/x8dEDYjh2c
— liz (@lizzymartineez) April 3, 2018
Martinez's mom was outraged over the incident, which she called body shaming.
"[School officials] had to ask her to stand up and bounce her breasts around to show it was a distraction," she told BuzzFeed News. "So how was it a distraction?"
Since the situation garnered national attention, Mitchell Teitelbaum, the school district's general counsel, said that the situation was mishandled; however, there was still "a violation" of the dress code. The current code does not specifically address bras and undergarments, but the district is allegedly amending it to include a note about them.
