“I know: let’s put in policies which outlaw any kind of fun, lest the Terminally Sensitive be offended in any way.”
That’s the thinking behind this move, apparently:
Oxford University has cracked down on ‘vicars and tarts’ and ‘pimps and hoes’ parties in case they are deemed offensive to non-binary students.
…
The prestigious university body said they could be deemed ‘problematic’ and may stereotype men or women in a highly objectified or sexualised role.
Uhhh I thought that was the whole point of the thing, but nemmind.
I cannot count the number of times I’ve been to costume (“fancy dress”) parties of the kind mentioned above. On one occasion, I recall that a “Pimps ‘n Prostitutes” party competition was won by a couple dressed as a priest and a nun, with second place going to a girl who wore her former — and very posh — private girls’ school uniform for the occasion (see below for an example). (That she was by then in her 30s made for quite an accomplishment, by the way; and no, it hadn’t been altered.)
Never mind; students are endlessly inventive in their schemes to outrage the university authorities, and I’m confident that the Oxonians will come up with something good. (If not, and they just cower in the face of such stupidity, we’re all doomed.)
Incidentally, the pic above is of the Britpop group Girls Aloud. Here they are in another version of the uniform thing:
Just trying to help my Murkin Readers understand this whole “school uniform” thing. That’s me: Mr. Helpful.
Once a week the convent girls from St. Mary’s Girls High were walked the half block to St. Mary’s Boys High, where I “studied”, to take a religion class taught by one of our Basilian priest teachers.
In that half block they managed to transform demure flat shoe, knee-sock, plaid skirt, white shirt and black sweater uniforms into slut and ho outfits of the first order. Buttons undone, sweaters tightened or stashed, plaid skirts pinned up on the inside to become micro-minis, socks off to bare legs, flat shoes into purses, high heels out.
Absolutely wonderful, they always came in to a storm of applause with even our crotchety old Basilian smiling at them. Then the old bugger tortured us by having the girls sit at the back of the class so we couldn’t stare at them or even see them.
that last line made me laugh hard.
thanks.
I noted that the two photographs showed the rep stripes going in different directions. I had known that genuine regimental striped ties went one way and fashion statement ones went the other way although I couldn’t have remembered which to save my life. I picked up this interesting tidbit from a Brooks Brothers on-line ad:
Its origins stem from the UK’s regimental stripe ties of the turn of the twentieth century. The stripes were angled from left to right, or from “heart to sword,” in a nod to their fighting roots.
There were school uniforms on this side of the pond as well. It was my general experience in the 60’s that the more elite and cloistered the girl’s school, particularly the east coast boarding schools like ” Miss Porter’s” the wilder and crazier the girls. Provided, you also attended an East Coast Boarding school and had the resources to provide entertainment of all sorts …..or were enough of a “Bad Boy” to suitably horrify her parents for the weekend.
If they follow-through on turning off the fossil-fuel provided heat, they could have some interesting Alaskan/Siberian Native costuming on an everyday basis.