US School Edits 80 Girls' Yearbook Photos Because They Weren't 'Modest Enough'

In a shocking incident, a school blurred and edited the photos of female students in its yearbook to show less skin. Calling it “modesty editing", the school has edited the photos of around 80 teenage girls. Now, the girls are enraged by the uninformed editing and are holding the school responsible for the narrow perspective on women's clothes and bodies. 

As per the reports, two of the 80 students speaking against the editing are first-year students Zoe Iannone and Riley O’Keefe. They are in Bartram Trail High School in St. Johns County located in Jacksonville, Florida. Zoe told the media, “The initial reaction is to be surprised and shocked, and then as it goes on, you just feel gross and embarrassed and very objectified."

“I got very upset, and I was very uncomfortable that that's how they were looking at our photos,” said Railey. The families of the students are complaining too that they were not informed about the edits before the release of the yearbook. The school defended itself by saying that the girls- 80 of them- violated the dress code and hence for modesty their pictures were edited. 

Dress policing of girls in the school

The school's website says, “All images in ads and all individual student pictures must be consistent with the St. Johns County School District Student Code of Conduct or may be digitally adjusted."

The school further talked about 'proper dress' and said, “Personal attire may be in the style of the day, but clothing that is immodest, revealing or distracting in character is unacceptable.”

But both Zoe and Riley claim that the outfits they wore in the pictures were not the first time they donned. Zoe said that when she wore the dress on the day of the photography session and other days, she didn't receive any dress code violation warning. Adding to this, Riley also said that she particularly chose the shirt which she claims to have worn "150 times". 

Saying that the school was uncomfortable with the pictures in the yearbook but not the swimming team's photo in Speedos, Riley said, “When the school goes and edits out my cleavage in a photo but decides that a swim team photo's OK in Speedos, it sends the message that my body is inappropriate — that my body is, there's something wrong with it."  

The school defended its stance on modesty editing

The photos in the yearbook were edited under the guidance of the coordinator who is also a teacher. Christina Langston, a spokesperson of the school, told the media, "Bartram Trail High School’s previous procedure was to not include student pictures in the yearbook that (it) deemed in violation of the student code of conduct, so the digital alterations were a solution to make sure all students were included in the yearbook."

The school is ready to offer refunds to the families of the girls whose photos have been edited. But the families neither received any refund nor demanded one.

Riley's mother, Stephenie, was enraged by the school's action and said that it made the girls responsible for some 'mistake'. She said, “They felt like they'd done something wrong. It felt like their bodies were being shamed, and they were embarrassed."

Adding to this, Zoe's mother, Amanda Emery said, "Basically, now their body parts are of additional focus and attention that never would've been there in the first place if the school hadn't called attention to it."

Another distressed mother, Lindsey Tenney talked about the heavy editing of her ninth-grade daughter Isabelle and said, "With most of the edits I've seen, and I've seen quite a bit, there was at least some attempt to make the edit look like it wasn't an edit and blend it in." Adding further on the edit made on her daughter's photo Tenney said, "But with my daughter, hers is the worst that I've seen. It's literally a square block on her chest."

Demanding an apology from the school, Riley said, “I think an apology is a huge thing that needs to happen. I think in long term the view of girls' bodies and young women's bodies and the dress code based on that needs to change."