Brittany Minder: Washington Teen Unwelcome At Prom For Having Large Breasts

Brittany Minder, a high school senior from Washington State, is making headlines after reporting to local news station, KOMO, that she was kicked out of prom for being large-chested. She and her family cite unfair enforcement of the school’s dress code.There are some stories that are newsworthy, and some that are not. This one is not. Reporters are now critiquing the teenage girl’s dress choice and breast size. That seems more humiliating than the initial event that caught the media’s attention.  

Here’s what happened: Minder shopped far and wide for her dress, ultimately buying it in Canada. Pictures can be seen here. When she arrived at the prom, she was told by school officials that in order to stay at the dance she had to cover herself with a shawl. Minder says the “magic was taken out of the night” and she only stayed for an hour. 

The school’s dress code says that strapless dresses like the kind Minder wore are allowed as long as cleavage, midriff, and lower back are covered. You can see in the picture that there is quite a lot of cleavage showing. And yes, it is because she is large-chested. There is nothing she can do about her anatomy, we all have idiosyncrasies that we have to work with. She could, however, have chosen a different design for a dress. Perhaps a halter structure or a sweetheart neckline would have better suited her. In fact, the neckline on the blouse that she wore during an interview that can be seen here, is quite flattering. 

It probably wasn’t a big deal and the school probably should have just let it go, but in this day and age a staple of prom is the high school administration making stupid rules that annoy students. Whether it is “leaving room for Jesus” between dancing couples, or covering up exposed body parts, school officials do everything they can to keep a PG-13 crowd rated G. 

Being large-chested probably is more difficult than having a small chest. Just like it is harder for men who have extremely large feet, or women who are unusually tall, or having a long torso, no hips, no butt. The list goes on. We learned in kindergarten that our bodies are all different shapes and sizes. As we grow, it is up to us to learn how to dress our bodies in a respectable way. 

While Minder’s experience at prom was not a textbook experience, it wasn’t a newsworthy one either. Instead, people like me who have no business discussing the teenager’s dress choice and physical figure are doing just that. Senior prom is a rite of passage, but it is also about realizing there’s a reason for graduation-to get out in a world where each of us can make his or her own decisions and learn from them and not be constrained by the disciplinary bubble of high school.