It was my first teaching job. A southern high school. Quite a cultural shock for a Boston girl.
At the end of the first week one boy looked absolutely miserable. I gently tried to find out why.
It turned out he wanted to be in the school’s beauty contest but was rejected. I was appalled. One, because the place was so retrograde it had a beauty contest and, two, the sex discrimination.
“You were rejected because you are a boy?” Actually, he was VERY cute in a girlish way.
“No. That’s not why. Amateurs only. No professional models.”