Hannah Pewee, of Michigan, was out shopping on a hot day (like 32 degrees celsius hot), wearing a vest, shorts and shoes. She was then asked to leave her chosen shopping centre by Mall Security.
Now, you could be forgiven thinking that this vest and shorts combination must have had a quality to them we've missed. Something offensive about them, perhaps.
Maybe the top has a massive phallus on it, or the shorts were actually arseless chaps.
Well, not to disappoint you guys, but Hannah was wearing your bog-standard, cotton-polly mix, clothing.
And unless Finding Nemo merchandise has some sort of secret X-rated meaning we don't know about, the design, 'Just keep swimming' on the top seems pretty PG to us.
[facebook ]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1480879161971414&set=a.522893044436702.1073741826.100001480339817&type=3&theater[/facebook]
Hannah Pewee was so enraged by the incident, she posted a photo of herself on Facebook and explained what had happened.
The student's adorable outfit was reported by an anonymous Mall goer and saw Pewee escorted out by security guards.
Despite her anger and embarrassment, Pewee's calling out of slut-shaming was as on-point as that Finding Nemo vest.
She captioned the photo:
As many of you know, it is NINETY degrees outside today in West Michigan. Aka, really hot. So, of course, I decided to dress for the weather: shorts and a tank top. But apparently, how I was dressed (see photo below) was too slutty for the public, as I was kicked out of the Woodland Mall today. Yup. Apparently some anonymous person reported me to MALL SECURITY for inappropriate dress and I was kicked out. Never mind that within a one foot radius there were plenty of girls dressed just like me, since it's NINETY degrees outside. I am so angry right now I'm shaking. I felt so embarrassed I almost cried. All because a stranger didn't like how I dressed. The Woodland Mall should be ashamed of themselves, as well as that anonymous complainer. It's my body, and it's hot outside! I'm not going to show up in jeans and a sweater, sorry. Don't like it? Look away! I was out having a fun time with my sister and next thing I know, I'm out on the street. Slut-shaming how girls are dressed is deplorable and outdated, and it needs to stop.
The post went viral, garnering 15k reactions, almost 9k shares and at least 650 likes so far.
Most people supported Pewee's thoughts, noting the danger of policing women on the way they dress.
[facebook ]https://www.facebook.com/hannah.pewee/posts/1481793441879986?comment_id=1481840181875312&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R5%22%7D[/facebook]
On top of this, it doesn't even look like Hannah was actually in violation of any of the dress code rules of the Mall.
Pewee made a follow-up post detailing that the Mall had actually apologised, and promised to teach their staff how to better manage complaints.
She wrote:
Alright, so I talked on the phone with the someone on the management team at Woodland and they apologized for what happened yesterday. Apparently they're going to revise their clothing policy on their website so it is clearer what is and isn't acceptable. In addition, security will be discussing how to properly handle situations like this. I want to thank everyone for the supporting messages, it really helped, especially when so many people were more than ready to tear me apart. Thank you all so much ❤️ Hopefully some good can come out of this all!
The Mall will hopefully be able to use this as a learning curve so it doesn't happen again, and Hannah's viral post will have reinvigorated the age-old conversation around policing women's clothing.
Every cloud, eh?
Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.
