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A Florida high school is facing backlash for altering the yearbook photos of 80 female students to add clothing to their chests and shoulders.
The school district told local media the changes were made to ensure the photos met the dress code, which says girls shirts must be modest .
But critics pointed to yearbook photos of male students left unedited despite violating the same standards.
The digital alterations were made without permission, the students say.
Bartram Trail High School s yearbook co-ordinator - a female teacher - made the decision to edit the photos after determining they had violated the dress code, the St Johns County school district said.
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A Florida high school is having to send yearbook refunds to families after they edited photos of some of the girls to cover up their cleavage. Now to be clear these weren t extremely low-cut tops or anything like that –it was just the sight of any cleavage that was edited out. There s a black box over my chest and the cardigan on the side like moved over and it looks really awkward and I was very confused, Riley O Keefe, a 15-year-old ninth grader who had a black bar added to her photo to cover up more of her chest, said, I think it sends the message that our girls should be ashamed of their growing bodies, and I think that s a horrible message to send out to these young girls that are going through these changes, one parent said.Now they and their parents are calling for an apology. They need to recognize that it s making girls feel ashamed of their bodies. More than 80 photos of female students were digi
Some female students at Bartram Trail High School in St. Johns County, Florida were shocked to see that their yearbook photos were digitally altered to cover more of their chests. Now they and their parents are calling for an apology.
First-year students Riley O’Keefe and Zoe Iannone are among the minimum of 80 girls whose pictures were photoshopped to show less skin in the yearbook at Bartram Trail High School in St. Johns County, which is near Jacksonville, Florida.
“The initial reaction is to be surprised and shocked, and then as it goes on, you just feel gross and embarrassed and very objectified,” Zoe told TODAY.
The two girls were hardly alone in learning their pictures, which were edited to cover their chests, had been changed.
“I got very upset, and I was very uncomfortable that that s how they were looking at our photos,” Riley said.