Double Standard In Utah High School's Editing Of Girl's Yearbook Photos

image credit Business Insider

Wasatch High School, located in Heber City, about 40 miles from Salt Lake City, UT, is at the center of a scandal because of unfairly applied censoring of some students’ yearbooks photos.  About half a dozen girls were shocked to find that their photos had been photo-shopped to add more coverage of their skin.  One girl’s tattoo was covered, and about 6 girls got sleeves or raised necklines added to their photos.

Available reports refer to the complainants as sophomores. So, about 6 sophomore girls were deemed to be inappropriate in their photo by the administration.  I question the idea that freshman, junior and senior girls were all properly clothed, appropriately modest, and that none of them wore anything that raised even one eyebrow.  It simply seems improbable.

So, since logic suggests that the approximate half-dozen girls could not have been the only ones who pushed the boundaries a little, I wonder if perhaps these girls are part of a clique that has received negative attention from the administration before, or maybe if the sophomore class is supervised by a particularly prudish administrator.

The girls each complained that many girls wore similar styles, yet most of them did not get photo-shopped.  So why did these few girls get singled out for extra scrutiny?

image credit Petapixel.com

Let’s delve a little deeper…

The yearbook included a section titled “Wasatch Stud Life” subtitled “Studs doin’ what studs do best!”  Boys’ pictures were not altered, even when their boxers showed or their bare chests and tattoos showed.  Boys were immortalized being…well, studs.  Doin’ what studs do best.

image credit Ladyromp.com

I’m unsure what 14 to 18 year old boys know about being studs, but I am sure it is next to nothing.  Yet, administrators thought it appropriate for boys to be represented as studs, with all that’s implied relative to studliness.

Is the problem that administrators are worried that these young studs can’t be trusted if girls look too sexy in one picture representative of one high school year?  Is the problem that administrators fear girls will be treated with disrespect if their shoulders show, even on very warm days?   Or is the problem that administrators carry a deeply held double standard with them as they do their job?

While the administration has apologized for photo-shopping the “too sexy” photos, they point out that the dress code was clearly posted.  So why didn’t an administrator tell these few girls that their outfit would not be published on the day of the pictures, and allow the girls to re-take the pictures on picture make-up day?

image credit KarenMoline

It’s as if some adult looked at the students’ photos, and had a particular problem with just a handful of them for some reason. Are these girls known to be trouble-makers?  Are they always pushing the boundaries?  What made these girls stand out, among all the girls in the entire school?

The girls are upset by the fact that the “increased modesty” patrol who determined which pictures to edit seems to have been done at random.  So random in fact that of two girls wearing the same tank and jean vest combination, only one was edited to improve the modesty quotient.

“Studs being studs” as a theme for the boys seems in poor taste, considering the push for girls to be chaste.  

In a world where rape victims often blame themselves for being victimized (Was my dress too short?  Did my bra strap show?  Was my outfit too revealing?), leading girls to doubt themselves in this specific way is irresponsible.  We know that rape is a crime about control, not sex.  Sexiness isn’t the cause of rape.  If it were, elderly grandmothers would not be raped, ever.

 "I feel like they're shaming you, like you're not enough, you're not perfect," said sophomore Shelby Baum. Baum's tattoo, which says "I am enough the way I am," was edited out of her  yearbook photo by school administrators.