Boy suspended for refusing to take off designer handbag

[Jazzy]

A 13-year-old boy has been suspended from school for refusing to take off his designer handbag.

Skylar Davis, a pupil at Anderson County Senior-Junior School in Kansas, claims he has been wearing his colourful Vera Bradley handbag since August without a problem, until now.

His mother is livid and claims the suspension is discriminatory because girls are allowed to use handbags without punishment.

Davis was summoned to assistant principal Don Hillard's office on Wednesday and ordered to take the bag off. He refused and was promptly suspended.

"It expresses myself and I think everyone else can wear it, so I wear it as well," he told 10News Tampa Bay.

Skylar's mother Leslie Willis commented: "I was a little furious, and I called the school to reverify the story, and yeah, he refused to take off his Vera Bradley bag, nothing more to it."

Willis said she was told that the suspension wouldn't be lifted until Skylar stopped wearing the bag, which he says he won't do. Anderson County School District officials have not commented.

Source

Do you think he should have been suspended? Why / Why not?

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Schools are allowed to enforce any dress code they want as long as they have reasons to justify it. He is only at school for 6 hours a day (probably) and he can wear it the other 18 hours of the day, so he needs to stop being immature and just go back to school. The mom seems to be cheering him on, so he'll probably get to sit at home for a while.

 

[Kirito]

Schools are allowed to enforce any dress code they want as long as they have reasons to justify it. He is only at school for 6 hours a day (probably) and he can wear it the other 18 hours of the day, so he needs to stop being immature and just go back to school. The mom seems to be cheering him on, so he'll probably get to sit at home for a while.

This. It's just because it's a boy wearing a handbag. If he was wearing something manly that wasn't allowed, no one would've cared to report it.

The school probably did him a favour anyway. He was gonna get beaten up... lol

 

[Evil Eye]

Be that as it may, they suspended him over this.
Overreacting isn't exactly a virtue. Especially when they're being sexist. Enforce whatever dress code you want, but do so equally. Like so

 

[Sinon]

Good for him. Ruining his education because he doesn't want to take a handbag off. Real mature.

Re: the argument about girls wearing handbags. That is because handbags were designed specifically for women. They were not designed for men. Yes, man-purses exist now, but they are specific brands and types. The type this kid is wearing is not a man-purse, it is designed specifically for women, and the reason for that is that typically women carry more stuff than men. (normal) men don't carry makeup, or a hair brush, or tampons, or anything like that. All the males I know carry wallet, phone, keys. That's about it.

 

[Naiwen]

Good for him. Ruining his education because he doesn't want to take a handbag off. Real mature.

Re: the argument about girls wearing handbags. That is because handbags were designed specifically for women. They were not designed for men. Yes, man-purses exist now, but they are specific brands and types. The type this kid is wearing is not a man-purse, it is designed specifically for women, and the reason for that is that typically women carry more stuff than men. (normal) men don't carry makeup, or a hair brush, or tampons, or anything like that. All the males I know carry wallet, phone, keys. That's about it.

Well, in my view, there isn't anything for Women specifically, or Men only, not even stuff like perfume and make-up, so why shouldn't he wear it at school?

 

[Sinon]

Good for him. Ruining his education because he doesn't want to take a handbag off. Real mature.

Re: the argument about girls wearing handbags. That is because handbags were designed specifically for women. They were not designed for men. Yes, man-purses exist now, but they are specific brands and types. The type this kid is wearing is not a man-purse, it is designed specifically for women, and the reason for that is that typically women carry more stuff than men. (normal) men don't carry makeup, or a hair brush, or tampons, or anything like that. All the males I know carry wallet, phone, keys. That's about it.

Well, in my view, there isn't anything for Women specifically, or Men only, not even stuff like perfume and make-up, so why shouldn't he wear it at school?

Your view doesn't really matter in this case, as there are things designed specifically for one sex and not the other.

 

[Jazzy]

Well, in my view, there isn't anything for Women specifically, or Men only

So, you're saying that dresses, skirts, bras, pantyhose and high heels (to name a few items) are not gender specific?

 

[Sinon]

Just because companies advertise and market their purple shirts to females, doesn't make it a girls color...

Yes, but we're not discussing colours. We're discussing, get this. WOMEN'S HANDBAGS

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Be that as it may, they suspended him over this.
Overreacting isn't exactly a virtue. Especially when they're being sexist. Enforce whatever dress code you want, but do so equally. Like so

They suspended him for not following instructions and defying the administration's orders, technically. The "crime" could have been anything.

 

[Jazzy]

And who says it's a women's handbag? The company?

Vera Bradley is a leader in fashionable, colorful, cotton quilted handbags, accessories, luggage, and paper and gift items for women of every age.