gymslip

Can one of you Brits 'splain me what a gymslip is?

This comes from Wikipedia but it sounds credible...

A gymslip is a sleeveless tunic with a pleated skirt most commonly seen as part of a school uniform for girls. The term "gymslip" primarily refers to the school uniform; otherwise the term pinafore dress (British English) or jumper dress (American English) is usually preferred.

***full disclaimer, I am an American and not British, although I do have a search engine that knows no international boundaries***

Sleeveless tunic dress - Yup, that's about it. I can fully understand why the girls didn't like such a garment, because they were the antithesis of attractive clothing (that's probably why they were in school uniforms in the first place) but I can't see the appeal of them to men precisely for the same reasons.
Presumably they were initially worn for P.E. lessons, hence 'gym', though this was never the case in my school, the delightfully short gym skirt (probably equally hated) was in use

Incidentally a 'slip' or 'waist slip' is a thin under-skirt but a 'petticoat' is a thin under-dress, so why the long gymslip is a slip and not a gympetticoat I don't know.

Ah, what was confusing me was thinking that the gymslip was what one would wear for PE, not the "main" uniform piece. What would PE kit typically be?

You probably meant to type 'can', not 'can't'

I actually think schools everywhere should get rid of the plaid-skirt, knee-high-stockings, white blouse uniforms for girls precisely BECAUSE it has become a ubiquitous fetish all over the online porn-sphere. And if some of you are thinking "Disgraceful! Our schools shouldn't have to give up this great tradition just because there are a ton of perverts out there!" - well, actually, yeah, I think they should. When the facts change, our behaviour should adapt.

The fact that there are way fewer uniform schools out there nowadays and the fact that schoolgirl uniforms are all over porn sites means that we should, indeed, stop dressing up those poor girls in what nowadays amounts to fetish gear.

I've never understood the plaid skirts; why are American schoolgirls made to dress in the tartans of Scottish clans?

As for the gymslips, a Google image search will turn up plenty of pictures, some dating back as far as the 1920s.

I don't think the school uniform is a specific kink just because it is what it is. Japanese excluded though. Rather everything girls wear is fetish to men, or can be turned into a fetish version. Just walk into a store during Halloween and you'll find sexy witch, sexy devil, sexy firewoman, sexy policewoman, sexy anything. But being a Swede I fully agree, we have no school uniforms and we're doing fine. In fact, when I had the choice between prolonging my contract in South America or go home I asked my kids what they wanted. They looked at each other and thought about it for a long time before finally coming to the conclusion that Sweden probably was a little better. When I wondered why, they said that it was because they didn't have to wear uniforms back here. So that's why we live uniformless here happily ever after

I'm pretty much against school uniforms in any case. When I was in school in the 1960's and '70's, we weren't allowed to wear shorts to school, at all. I don't remember girls being allowed to wear jeans or pants of any kind until I went to Jr. High School in 1972. I just don't like the idea of kids having to all dress alike, unless it's for something they opted into, such as Scouts, otherwise for school dress as they wish to, within reason.

I did this first, but I thought it must be showing me the "wrong" thing because I was thinking it was supposed to be something worn for PE. And to Burgundy's point, most of them were kinky fetish versions.

Aha! You know what infuriates me further: what sort of colossal morons decided to import these uniforms to private schools in Canada with no regard for the Canadian WEATHER?? I see little 7-year-old girls running around in January in that get-up with bare legs in freaking -35 degrees , -45 with windchill. I want to go the school office and bitchslap the principal with the plaque of their school motto, "We Care About Our Students".