Upset that some students attending the Alabama-USC game showed up “looking like they belonged in a Victoria’s Secret fashion show,” Alabama mom and UA grad Rebecca Walden posted a blog on the Huffington Post suggesting they “stop baring almost all in the name of game day fashion.” She went on to add that “families attend these games. Little eyes are watching you.”
The post struck a nerve, prompting the Huffington Post to delete the article and compelling current University of Alabama student to pen an angry response titled “Dear Rebecca Walden And Every Woman Who Is Still ‘Slut-Shaming.’”
“Slut-shaming is real, we see it every day and this blog post is one of the countless examples roaming the cyber world today,” she wrote. “We, as young women, have grown up in a world where we have been taught our shoulders distract boys from learning. We’ve been threatened to get sent home from school if our knees show. Little by little, comment to comment, it adds up… The more we bash on one another for dressing too revealing, the more we are perpetuating the rape culture so many have been victims of… Her tasteless and bashful opinion isn’t going to make girls want to dress ‘classier’ and ‘cover up’ more. It’s going to make that one girl who finally grew the courage to flaunt her body in a new dress she had been too intimidated to wear before regret ever going to the game in the first place.”
The issue has been a hot topic on the Internet throughout the week, and the focus of debate on Yellowhammer Radio on Wednesday, with people coming down on both sides.
But some individuals have expressed general confusion over the uproar, having never even seen the outfits that have become the subject of so much discussion.
A Yellowhammer reader took it upon themselves to search the University of Alabama geotag on Instagram and sent dozens of links to public posts that included game day-related captions. Although the images were posted publicly, Yellowhammer has blurred the faces of the individuals in the photos, along with any organizational logos.
Check out the images below so you can decide for yourself whether Mrs. Walden has a point, or if she’s getting bent out of shape over nothing.
