Teacher's lesson on sexual harassment, rape sparks controversy: 'If you dress a certain way, you're asking for it'

Students at a Catholic high school in Michigan are fighting back after they say a Campus Life minister objectified women and blamed them for provoking men’s bad behavior in a sex education lesson on sexual harassment and rape.

The sessions – which were held between May 28 and May 31 for ninth-graders in Divine Child High School in Dearborn, Mich. – drove students to protest by wearing paper targets on their uniforms and putting up posters around the school.

The minister in question allegedly told the high schoolers in theology class that the way they dress encourages men, which puts women at fault.

“Ladies, if you dress provocative, if you dress and leave absolutely nothing to the imagination younger girls look and go, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s got plenty of boys around her,” the minister said in a recording provided to WXYZ by a student. “Those younger guys go, ‘Oh, that’s how you talk about women, that’s how you look at women as an object, something to be dissected.’”

Upset with the lesson, 40 teenage girls wore paper targets on their uniforms to protest the way they were targeted, WXYZ reported. The girls claimed that school authorities told them to either take them off or stay an extra hour for detention after school.

The students also put up posters in school that read, “Instead of publicly shaming girls for dressing how they want, teach men not to over sexualize women’s bodies.”

The ninth-graders weren’t the only ones who took issue with the way they were treated. One parent spoke to WXYZ and made it clear that he backs his daughter and her right to express the way she feels.

“He was telling a woman, ‘If you dress a certain way, you’re asking for it,’” a father, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the news outlet in support of his daughter.

He added that he wants to “make sure our daughters are not being taught to be silenced. This goes against what we as Catholics teach to everyone.”

In a statement provided to Yahoo Lifestyle by the parent support organization at Divine Child High School, school administrators indicated that they were looking into the events that had transpired.

“Our students' comfort, safety and well-being are paramount to their experience at Divine Child High School, and we are taking all concerns seriously. To that end, we have discussed these concerns with some students and parents and welcome input from all of our stakeholders,” the statement from Divine Child Administration says. “School administration has no record of students being suspended, issued detentions or otherwise disciplined as a result of this situation,” the statement reads. “While we are confident in the message and value of the program, this input from our community has and will help us continue to improve our delivery of this important information to our students.”

This isn’t the first time Divine Child High School has come under scrutiny. In April 2018, the high school came under fire for introducing “modesty ponchos” for students whose prom outfits were seen as inappropriate. After facing backlash, they eventually reversed the rule.