‘Slut-Shaming’ Mall Cop Kicks Out Michigan Shopper: Shorts Too Short?

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Saturday was one of those weather-you-can-wear days in Grand Rapids. The temperature was in the 90s, so when Grand Valley State University student Hannah Pewee decided to go shopping with her sister, she chose a cool pair of cutoffs and a tank top. They were having a great time until Pewee was kicked out by a Woodland Mall security guard. The reason? Pewee’s sultry weather outfit was “too slutty,” she wrote on Facebook.

Pewee said the experience was infuriating and embarrassing. “I am so angry right now I’m shaking,” she wrote. “I felt so embarrassed I almost cried. All because a stranger didn't like how I dressed.”

And then she deftly lowered the boom, striking a blow for every woman who has ever felt shamed for her appearance: “Slut-shaming how girls are dressed is deplorable and outdated, and it needs to stop.” (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Grand Rapids Patch,or click here to find your local Michigan Patch. Also,if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Pewee wrote that she saw “plenty of girls dressed just like me” before she was thrown out by a security guard acting on an anonymous complaint by another mall guest. The mall website wasn’t clear about clothing restrictions — shirts and shoes are required, and clothing with words, phrases and graphics are subject to mall management approval — and didn’t specify a length for shorts, Pewee wrote in another post.

“If there is such a strict policy, that needs to be public information, not something security officers spring on unsuspecting customers,” she wrote. “Especially with summer coming around, there's going to be a lot of girls like me, going to the mall and not knowing (they’re) breaking some secret dress code.”

Facebook friends responded, sharing her post thousands of times and spilling out their own outrage in the comments, creating a full-fledged public relations nightmare for the mall. The post had more than 8,100 “likes” and had been shared thousands of times by midday Monday. Hundreds of people commented, especially women who shared their own experiences with appearance shaming.

On Sunday, Pewee posted an update on Facebook saying that she’d talked with someone from Woodland Mall. Besides apologizing, the representative promised to make the clothing policy clear on the mall website and said security employees were being briefed on how to better handle such situations.

In an emailed statement to MLive.com, a Woodland Mall spokesperson said: “We apologized to the shopper and the public for the way that this was handled. We've already spoken to her and are working to make things right. We work to create a fun and safe shopping and dining destination but failed to deliver on that message for this shopper. We're working internally to make sure we fully deliver on excellent experiences at our Mall immediately.”

Tell us, is this outfit too risque?

Photo courtesy of Hannah Pewee