What started with one boy deciding to challenge the sexist double standards at his high school ended up being a movement of over 100 boys coming to school wearing skirts.
At their Canadian high school, girls have been pressured to make sure their skirts are 10 centimeters below the knee, while there are no clothing restrictions for boys.
These boys didn't think that was fair, so they not only challenged toxic masculinity, but they also showed solidarity with women's rights.
At only 16 years old, Zachary Paulin understood that it wasn't fair for school administrators to target girls and force them to feel ashamed of their bodies.
His school, Collège Nouvelles Frontières in Gatineau, Quebec, was associating the female body with bad behavior, which was unacceptable.
The school administrators at Paulin's school are similar to school staff around the world that believe that girls should be blamed for boys acting inappropriately if they dress too revealingly.
Paulin and his friends are asserting that boys should know how to respect everyone, no matter how they dress.
Paulin and his friends wanted to point out the fact that women are often rewarded for dressing tough or conservative, but if a boy dresses femininely, he's viewed as weak or automatically assigned a certain sexuality.
Paulin, like many others, believes this patriarchal way of assigning people specific behaviors and rules isn't right.
It's inspiring that at such a young age, Paulin and his friends already understand how destructive gender roles, sexism, and toxic masculinity can be.
We hope that others, regardless of age or creed, will look to these boys and the example that they're setting.
Let us know what you think in the comments!
