17-yr-old girl sent home for wearing ripped jeans, tank top to school starts petition

Laura Anderson wore a ripped jean and tank top to school on Monday and was asked to go back home and change her outfit by Vice-Principal, Linda Weir, who called the outfit inappropriate.

The 17-year-old, whose case started online trend #MyBodyMyBusiness, says there was nothing wrong with the way she dressed.

"There was nothing wrong with it," Anderson said after she changed into a different jeans and baggy t-shirt.

"I believe that the over-sexualisation of women in our school creates such a toxic environment for our young teenagers."

According to her, the claim that sexually suggestive dressing affects boys is not enough reason to ask girls to dress in a particular way.

"(The administrators') mindset is that it's too distracting and we need to respect ourselves," she said.

"If boys can't handle the way we dress, we don't need to change our outfit, they need to change their perspective."

But the school principal, Tom McLeod, said the dress code is written with input from the school council made up of parents and reviewed yearly.

"Our dress code is pretty open-ended. We don't suspend students, we're trying to get them to where they need to be and usually a tuck or a roll down does the trick," McLeod said.

"All undergarments have to be covered."

Anderson's peers are planning to protest on her behalf by wearing ripped jeans and tank tops to school.

They started an online petition to change the school dress code, trending the #MyBodyMyBusiness hashtag on Twitter.