Williamson board member's cleavage comments spark backlash

Reactions have come swiftly to comments made by school board member Beth Burgos on proposed revisions to the dress code policy Tuesday night at Williamson County Schools' monthly meeting.

Cleavage can be one of the main distractions in a learning environment, especially for male students, said Burgos, a family physician. The notion is based on scientific fact, she said.

The school board is revising the district dress code to make it more inclusive and gender-neutral.

But for some parents, discussion on tank tops and cleavage promotes the idea that females are responsible for the focus of male students.

"I was angry. Now I'm just sad — to say she has science to back up her sexist remarks," said parent Kim Sarubbi, who raised concerns over the dress code late last year.

"My husband is also a doctor. The first thing he did when he found out about her comments was find tons of research that supports the reverse of what she’s saying — how interactions and experiences shape people's mind and what they believe to be their reality," Sarubbi said.

She added: "Males should be responsible for their reactions, however they're not being held responsible or held to the same standards. Overwhelmingly, girls are being dress coded."

Proposed revisions will prohibit students from showing skin from the midriff to mid-thigh. It'll also require students who wear leggings to wear an opaque top that covers the buttocks and genitalia.

While the revised policy sets a minimum width for tank top straps, it does not mention cleavage.

Burgos said the revised dress code can promote appropriate dress without shaming females.

Burgos read an email she sent to a constituent Tuesday night at a school board meeting.

Here's part of Burgos' email:

We as a board are committed to providing a safe and learning-focused school climate as free from distractions as possible. It is our intent to clarify through policy what is considered appropriate for students to wear to school in order to help achieve this goal.

We are early in the process and met for the first reading of the policy revision last Thursday night. Dr. Looney had met and received feedback from several shareholder groups prior to our meeting.

He was asked the question if our school administrators had any concerns with the revisions in the policy. He explained that they in fact did have two concerns: cleavage and tank tops.

I agree that we needed to further address these issues. Especially the issue of cleavage because I do believe it can be one of the main distractions in a learning environment, especially for male students.

My comments have been misunderstood and misconstrued. I am not a sexist nor am I relieving males of responsibilities for their thoughts or actions. My comments were based on medical fact and directed to the gender differences that exist in male and female brains when presented with visual sexual stimuli.

As a medical doctor I can tell you that it’s neuroscientific fact that male and female brains are different. It’s widely acknowledged in the medical field that there are definite gender differences in brain activation and audio visual sexual stimulation. Studies have been done using functional MRIs that confirm a difference in brain activity when visually presented with certain stimuli.

It has been proven that men are more prone to physical attraction whereas women are more affected by the environment and emotions related to a sexual partner. This difference has been confirmed by scientific studies, even on adolescent brains.

When adolescent boys were studied with functional MRIs, brain activity was very high in response to visual sexual stimuli. This was not the case for adolescent girls.

So you see my comments are not meant to be degrading in any way towards our female students. Nor do I hold male students in low regard. It is important, however, to keep these neuroscientific facts in mind when developing dress codes and when teaching our students about appropriate dress in the classroom. 

It is never okay to say that a woman deserves to be raped because of what she’s wearing. It is all together another thing to teach our young ladies the sexual response that occurs in a male’s brain when he sees part of the female body exposed.

With that knowledge, I believe our female students would want to be more aware of how their dress could potentially distract their male counterparts and be willing to promote a learning focused school environment by dressing accordingly. This can and will be done in a way that does not shame our female students.

Williamson County Director of Schools Mike Looney said he sought to revise the district dress code after a parent claimed a school's dress code unfairly targeted female students.

Looney said he has not reflected on Burgos' comments, but was thankful for the diversity of opinions on the school board.

"I'm absolutely confident as we continue this journey towards a more perfect dress code, we'll come up with language that people by and large will find acceptable," he said.

"I would encourage everybody to let this process run its course, and continue to give input," he said.

Although not directed solely toward female students, school board member Dan Cash said the district policy should have minimum length requirements for pants, shorts and skirts. Proposed revisions say all bottoms must hit at least mid-thigh.

The school board will review the policy several times before a final vote. The board approved the first reading of the revisions Tuesday night.

Reach Melanie Balakit at 615-926-1638 and on Twitter @MelanieBalakit.

Proposed standards 

• Tops of shoulders must have a minimum of a 2-inch strap for students in grades 6-12 and a minimum of 1-inch strap for students in grades K-5 unless otherwise covered by an opaque top garment. 

• Skin and undergarments must be covered with opaque clothing from the midriff to mid-thigh. 

• All pants, trousers, shorts and skirts must be held at the waist. 

• Leggings, jeggings and other compression-style garments may be worn so long as an opaque top garment covers the buttocks and genitalia. 

• Hats may be worn in buildings with the permission of building administration. 

• Shoes are required. 

• Any type of clothing, apparel or accessory, including that which denotes such students’ membership in or affiliation with any gang associated with criminal activities is prohibited. 

Student uniforms related to extra-curricular activities must comply with these standards during the school day.