Why Was Cross-Dress Day Canceled?

Northwest Academy removed “Cross-Dress Day” from its Spirit Week, after students and parents worried that the theme was inconsiderate to transgender people.

“We had received some concerns from parents that thought maybe it was insensitive and inappropriate,” Scott Kerman, Assistant Head of School, said. “Then one of the teachers reported that they heard the same thing from one of the high school classes.”

The themes for the days of Spirit Week were decided by a committee of seniors, as well as High School Activities Director Erin Blenkiron.

Blenkiron was unsure about Cross-Dress Day even before the complaints came in.

“Cross-Dress Day made me uneasy from the beginning, as I believed it could be offensive,” Blenkiron said. “When it was brought to our attention that there were many students that did not support the day it seemed wise to change the theme. The idea of Spirit Week is to bring the school together in a fun way– having a divisive themed day would not contribute to accomplishing that goal.”

However, Kerman seemed less hesitant about the day.

“I think the students here are open-minded and very tolerant and [think of] Cross-Dress Day not as a way of ridiculing transgender people, but as a way perhaps exploring the ambiguities in gender,” he said.

The decision to cancel Cross-Dress Day was made by the senior committee.

“We were informed that during the junior retreat people were expressing concern about [Cross-Dress Day],” Lily Applegate, a senior on the committee, said. “As a class we decided that maybe we should change it.”

This was not the first year that Northwest Academy has had a Cross-Dress Day, although it had never been pulled in the past.

“We’ve had them a number of years before,” Kerman said. “I never found room for offense in those days, but I appreciate and respect how others feel.”

However, some feel that the Cross-Dress days in the past haven’t sent the right message.

“I’m all for breaking down gender roles, like I don’t fit the stereotypical male,” Kyler Stanion, a transgender student at Northwest Academy, said. “But in the past when we’ve done Cross-Dress Day, it hasn’t really been about that, it’s more been about laughing at boys in dresses because boys can’t do that, and that’s not adding to the dialogue that we need to be having.”

Reaction to the cancellation of the day was mixed, although most were understanding of the decision.

“I know that a lot of people were offended and upset with the decision to have a cross dress day and I think that it’s important that the school is sensitive to that,” Emma Hirsch, a sophomore, said. “I think having it not be a part of the week made many people feel more comfortable and just overall settled better with the beliefs of many of the students.”

Some feel that despite the week’s themes being listed in advance, the removal came too abruptly.

“[The change] was last minute,” Chloë Mathis, a senior, said. “It was very difficult to deal with.”

Applegate wishes that the concerns had been directly voiced to the senior committee.

“We were kind of frustrated that no one expressed concern to us directly and earlier, because we would have been fine changing it,” Applegate said. “But they waited until basically the last second to tell us that they were not comfortable with it.”

Whether it’s possible to have an appropriate Cross-Dress Day is up for debate.

“It’s not necessarily a problem with the society of the school, it’s a problem with society in general, the society all of us have grown up in,” Stanion said. “As long as we as people of this society still have this preoccupation with the fact that boys can’t wear dresses or girls can’t be butch, whatever it may be, then [Cross-Dress Day is] just not going to be a productive thing to do, if we’re just doing it, because we can’t do it otherwise.”

“Toddler Tuesday” replaced Cross-Dress Day.