Auckland's Henderson High School recently made international headlines after telling female students their skirts were too short.

Students say they were told skirts were a distraction for male students and the school needed to create a good work environment for male teachers.

But what do Kiwi teens think of this?

Six young women spoke about their own experiences at school.

I was standing, talking to a teacher. Another teacher walked in, looked at me, and came up - she pulled my jacket closed across my shirt.

Then she zipped it up. I was just wearing a mesh top, with a singlet underneath. It was year ten, I would've been 14. I had this teacher come up and put their hands on me.

They moved my clothing and zipped it up like I was a child. I remember standing there, shocked, thinking, what are you doing? It was in front of other people. I remember feeling completely terrible, completely powerless.

Why are we sexualising girls?

If you're a male teacher and you don't feel comfortable because of what a girl's wearing, then the issue is with you, not the student.

Do kids grow up too fast?

Share your stories, photos and videos.

Boys will come to school with those huge singlets with the gaping arm holes, and you can see their entire chest. But the moment you see a bra, it's offensive.

The consequence of having that viewpoint is, girls start to think that their body is offensive.

Lauren, 16

We made this point that our [normal] clothes are viewed as acceptable in society. But when we come into the school environment, the teachers and senior staff begin to sexualise what we wear.

It isn't sexualised out of school.

Ashleigh, 17​

The first time I was cat-called, I was 12. I just remember a bunch of boys biking back and forth around me, saying: 'Where are you going? What are you doing? Do you have parents with you?'

It's a genuinely scary thing. We can't let people think it's OK to sexualise girls like that.

But, I can understand why the schools would want to try and stop that and put a limit on short skirts. There are predators out there who would see a girl in a short skirt and think of them as something they'd want.

In school, you shouldn't be here and made to feel like you need to be protected from your classmates and teachers.

Rachel, 17

It's part of that culture of shaming. It basically tells people that if you're wearing revealing clothes, then you're a slut, you sleep with people, you don't respect your body. Wearing revealing clothes, that could be how someone feels confident in their body.

You should come to school feeling comfortable about what you're wearing. You should be able to go to school without fear that you're going to get a comment from a teacher, or a comment from anyone saying you're a distraction.

If it's going to be a distraction for someone, teacher or student, then should they really be at school? Or teach them to stop sexualising women like that.

Katie, 17

My dean basically told the year 13s to watch what we're wearing. She said we couldn't have any bra straps on display and that it was a "school not a night club".

Everyone was pretty pissed given the fact global warming's given us the hottest summer ever and we are told it's distracting to wear a singlet.

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