15-Year-Old Shuts Down School’s Sexist Assembly Tirade

Teen takes a stand against school’s sexist lecture in epic online speech and totally slays

Seriously, chills and cheers. We couldn’t stop clapping and nodding our heads yes, yes yes. Preach and praise girlfriend, we got your back. 15-year old Faith Sobotker from Australia, gave a knock out speech to her classmates after attending a school assembly where the length of the girls’ skirts were addressed. The teen slams the school’s sexist lecture and nailed why their approach was all wrong.

According to Cosmopolitan, school staff members told the girls at an assembly last week that if they rolled up their skirts they would be seen as having no self-respect. The school allegedly added that revealing more of their legs was a distraction to their male classmates.

Insert epic eye roll here. How many times must girls and women be objectified and held to double standards in dress code? How about instead of blaming the girls, we tell the boys to mind their own fucking business and not sexualize females? How about we tell the boys that it’s inappropriate to be visibly drooling over young women at school? How about we address the real problem here: talking about girls’ bodies in any way, shape, or form.

Faith Sobotker wasn’t buying the school’s BS either, and she’s not taking sexist crap anymore. In her video posted on YouTube she proclaims, “I have self respect, I look after myself. You can’t tell me what self-respect is, you can’t tell me what ladylike is,” and adds, “We don’t live in the ’50s anymore; I’m looking for equality, I’m looking forward to being able to show off my body without being sexualized.”

Her message and confidence gives us so much life.

She continues on her rant of the century by saying, “You do not get to sexualize me like that, you do not get to tell me that my body is sacred, because it isn’t. Half the population is female. We’re not a new discovery, people know that I have legs, that I have knees, I have thighs, and I have a vagina.”

Her point couldn’t be more clear. Women are nothing new. Our body parts are nothing new. Women who dress a certain way, and (gasp) show a body part or two, aren’t doing it to indulge men. We dress how we want for our own happiness and comfort. And furthermore, by dressing any damn way we want we’re not asking for it. “It” being sexual harassment and sexual abuse. Which leads us to the next part of this story.

The school’s assembly allegedly came in response to a “porn ring” scandal that involves 71 Australian schools. Including Sobotker’s school. The “porn ring” apparently consisted of boys sharing nude and sexual photos of female students on a website without their permission.

According to news.com.au, there were over 2,000 graphic images of girls on the site, which has since been taken down.

Reports say the site featured “wanted” lists, some of which offered “bounties” if members were able to contribute personal information about the young women like their physical features, friendship circles, phone numbers and addresses. Local police are investigating. But the disgusting exploitation and abuse of these young girls is horrific and reprehensible.

The principal of Kambrya College in Australia, Michale Muscat told the Huffington Post in a statement that the assembly focused on the school’s “existing uniform policy” and he said that the “recent exploitation of girls online” is a separate issue.

Mkay.

Either way, we’re just thankful Sobotker is part of the next generation. Maybe change will happen, we can have hope. Which is exactly what Sobotker gives us, “I don’t want these girls to be growing up in a society where they need to believe that they have to be a certain way, because they can be however they want to be. They can be however makes them comfortable and confident.”