Over the the past 10 years in particular, we’ve seen a significant shift in the way that people have grappled with traditional ideas of gender in favor of expressions that make sense to them.
While it was much more common in decades past to pass on traditional concepts without questioning why they were told they needed to or who set them in the first place, both the narrow definitions of gender and how members of those genders are “supposed” to express themselves are now being re-examined.
And what many have found is that some old ways of looking at the issue both imposes unneeded restrictions and runs counter-productive to their efforts to lead happy, healthy lives.
Broadly speaking, it’s that emerging attitude that has led some male teachers throughout Spain to wear skirts to class in solidarity with a now-prominent student.
On October 27, a high school student in Bilbao, Spain named Mikel Gomez wore a skirt to school, which he said was his way of showing support for feminism and diversity.
As Metro reported , however, this choice led school officials to expel him and refer him to a psychologist.
In response, students throughout the nation dubbed November 4 “wear a skirt to school day” and started a movement that translates to “Clothes Have No Gender.”
In more recent months, we’ve seen some male teachers take up the banner of this movement as well and wear skirts of their own to class.
One of them is 36-year-old Borja Velazquez, who tweeted out photos of him and a colleague with a caption that translates to, “A school that educates in respect, diversity, co-education and tolerance. Dress as you want!”
That colleague is 37-year-old Manuel Ortega, who became inspired to join the movement after he witnessed one of his students being bullied.
According to Metro , this student wasn’t wearing a skirt, but rather an anime T-shirt. Nonetheless, his classmates called him homophobic slurs until he changed clothes out of embarrassment, which horrified Ortega.
As a result, he and Velazquez have been wearing skirts to school since late April.
Among the first teachers to join the movement, however, was Jose Piñas and he had a personal reason for doing so.
As he explained in a tweet of his own, “20 years ago I suffered persecution and insults for my sexual orientation in the institute where I am now a teacher, many teachers, they looked the other way. I want to join the cause of the student, Mikel, who has been expelled and sent to the psychologist for going to class with a skirt.”
According to Metro , the movement and these teachers’ support of it has largely garnered positive responses from parents, some of whom reported that their own children have also joined the movement.
h/t: Metro
