Leading private school Uppingham, whose alumni include Stephen Fry, Rowan Atkinson and TV doctor Christian Jessen, has confirmed that it will let male pupils wear skirts if requested – after Dr Christian remarked he would've done so had he been given the choice as a child. Headteacher Richard Maloney told The Times: "I would hope that any pupil could come to me and say, 'This is who we are, and this is how we wish to express ourselves. We want to wear these clothes' and we would probably allow that."
The debate was sparked by Dr Christian
Dr Christian had earlier told the paper that he believed schools should introduce gender neutral uniforms. "I probably would have worn a skirt to school, I never toed the line, I was always different," he explained. "For too long we have stereotyped people – notions such as pink for girls and blue for boys are problematic… I think it would help for schools to have gender-neutral uniform."
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Some other private schools have already introduced gender neutral uniforms in recent years, including Highgate school in North London. But at Uppingham girls currently wear grey skirts, white shirts, cerise jumpers and black blazers, while boys wear charcoal trousers, white shirts, black jumpers and blazers.
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Dr Christian also said that the term 'gender neutral' could be helpful for children who are looking to explore their gender and sexual identity, and that doctors should be cautious about prescribing hormones or sex-change surgery too early. "It is OK for children to question their gender identity — the crucial question is then what the medical profession does about it. I do see the merit of giving children time with the right psychological support to decide whether they are doing the right thing," he said.
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The Embarrassing Bodies star is currently promoting his new book, Dr Christian's Guide to Growing Up Online, which tells children how to stay safe on the internet. He previously spoke to HELLO! about how he still struggles to deal with trolling comments. "I'll be honest, it's actually quite hard," he said. "Especially when it's a personal attack. People just tell me, 'Oh, don't read them.' But it doesn't really work that way, we have all read stuff that we shouldn't have."
