Girls confront boys who rated their looks at Montgomery County high school

BETHESDA, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - After some teen girls from Montgomery County found out about a list rating their looks they decided to confront the male students who made it, and more importantly, help change the culture at their high school.

The list was made last year by male students at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School but only discovered by the young women on the list this month.

"A list of girls, 18 of them and next to each of their names, a number down to the tenth decimal point or even hundredth, rating them out of 10," said senior Lee Schwartz.

She said her name was among those on the list.

"I know when I first saw that list, I definitely felt a sense of betrayal knowing that my closest peers and colleagues have been hanging out with me and talking to me every day in class, but under that silently numbering (me)," said Schwartz. "It was a betrayal."

Schwartz and her classmate Gabriella Cappizi knew they wanted to take action, and they arranged a meeting with school administrators as well the students who made the list.

"It got spread around really quickly," said Cappizi. "I believe it was brought to administration the day it was released and the girls began talking about it and basically formed this big group. And that's when we kind of decided that we wanted to keep moving forward and focusing on the positive change that could come out of something like this."

They say not only have the boys listened, but they've been willing to join them in efforts to speak to younger students about making a better school environment.

"It was honestly very reassuring because we had knowledge that this was a mistake, that it was a really bad thing that it happened, but they also acknowledged it," said Cappizi. "And they've really owned up to accepting that they are at fault and they been more than willing to assist us in any way possible. They've been at all the meetings we've had and they've also acknowledged that this is something that needs to be addressed. The younger students need to really be educated on this topic."