French schools say 'non!' to thongs

French schools are cracking down on a craze among teenage girls to flash their midriffs and wear skimpy G-strings that peek brazenly out from above their low-cut trousers.

A number of head teachers in France -- where school uniforms are practically unheard of -- have slapped a ban on showing off thongs and tummies, the French daily Le Parisien said on Friday.

"In the eyes of boys, thongs reduce girls to bottoms," former junior education minister Segolene Royal said.

"These adolescents are, sadly, a reflection of the society they are sold -- a society where women's bodies are shown off like vulgar merchandise," she told the newspaper.

Teenage girls the world over are sporting ever-lower hipster jeans, pierced navels and tattoos, and have been yanking up their barely-there thongs to show above their trousers.

Underwear makers in France report soaring sales of such garments to girls as young as 10.
"The thong has become a fashion accessory like a handbag or a belt. You let it show above your hipster jeans just like you let your bra-strap show," Le Parisien quoted a spokeswoman for the Dim underwear company as saying.

Teachers are having none of it, however, despite squeals of protest from students."I am quite happy to accept girls showing their navels -- but not in a high school," said Claudine Wendling-Brickert, headmistress at the Ribeauville High School in Haut-Rhin.