Madam,

One might be tempted to exhale deeply and roll ones eyes in wearied disbelief at the risible reaction of school authorities to a group of young men wearing dresses (with the apparent connivance of their female classmates) to a fancy dress day.

But the suggestion that the intention behind this harmless behaviour can in anyway be construed as intentionally offensive and that these pupils (male and female) have in someway ‘undermined’ the trust the school put in them cannot go unchallenged.

It is nothing new for girls to be given male roles in school dramatic productions, nothing is said when young women wear men’s clothing, and liberal society never tires of telling us that women should be allowed to dress as they please, whether that be from wanting to ‘look nice’ or from some sort of conviction.

Yet the school and county council, in what appears to be a paranoid spasm of political correctness, seem to think that men in dresses is somehow deeply suspect and a betrayal of trust.

The message that the authorities are giving these young adults is that their own judgement can never be trusted, that spontaneity and humour are too dangerous and that every action or comment is to be weighed in the balance.

The future of our society is not best served by forcing people into some sort of neurotic meta-position where they are constantly observing and editing themselves.

I will grant the school and the council that a clutch of Year 11 boys in cocktail dresses may not be an aesthetic high point for those who encounter them but it is nothing more than a group of young men in dresses.

I hope the victims of this unwarranted curtailment of their freedom and self expression will use this unfortunate event as motivation to work towards a fair, equitable and free society where people can go about their business without punitive sanction even if they choose to do so in a short dress.

Yours etc,

Stephen Edwards, Llanilar.

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