Geisy Arruda made headlines as a 20-year-old woman who was expelled from a Brazilian university after being heckled for wearing a bright pink, short dress to class. That incident has propelled her to stardom.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, "Never.... was so much owed by so many to so few" bits of clothing.
One month ago Geissy Arruda was unknown beyond her family, her circle of friends and her fellow students at Bandeirante University in Sao Bernardo do Campo.
Then, On October 22, Arruda made a fateful, momentous and life-changing decision. She picked out an outfit to wear to school that day. The outfit was nothing that would be deemed unusual on a college campus in North America: Black high heels, heavy make-up and a very short, very pink minidress.
However, in Brazil it ignited a minor riot.
Brazzilmag.com interviewed a friend of Arruda's who was present to determine the details of what happened next:
At about 8:30 pm, when Geisy Arruda decided to go to the washroom along with her classmate Kelly Andrezzi, 19, a group of 20 girls invaded the place in an attempt to attack Geisy and force her to put some pants on and hide her legs.
"I was very afraid of what could happen, but I could not have imagined what was about to come, students were cursing Geisy, calling her ugly names and accusing her of drawing too much attention, even threatening to beat her up," commented Kelly, Geisy's friend.
Noticing the turmoil around the female's washroom, male students scrambled for the place trying to force their way in. "We had to slap, clinch and fight with the boys, who were trying to go into the bathroom, and trying to put cell phones between Geisy's legs," says female student Amanda de Souza Augusto, 19, another Tourism classmate. "It was an aggression, an injustice against her", protested Amanda.
Subsequently, the
university expelled Arruda. When this provoked a large public outcry she was
quietly reinstated, but admonished to dress more modestly, in a manner befitting an institution of higher education. Academically, Arruda is right back where she started, a tourism student at Bandeirante University.
However, her life has been changed forever, she is now celebrity.
On November 17, Arruda assured the
Associated Press that she was enjoying her new found fame. "Imagine me abroad. Maybe living in Portugal; it'd be great, different from how I grew up. Tourism is fascinating, I could work on a cruise ship, maybe at a resort, or a travel agency. I still can't believe it. It's like a real strange, stupid movie."
