Bands Promote Awareness, and Giggles, but Aren’t Lewd

Baby-pink ribbons they are not. But a federal judge in Pennsylvania has ruled that “I ♥ Boobies” bracelets — worn as breast cancer awareness accessories — are not lewd, either, and overturned a ban on them at a public middle school there.

After the Easton Area school board’s vote on Wednesday night to appeal the decision, school districts around the country are watching the case, in part to learn the fate of their own prohibitions against the bracelets. But the dispute could also set a precedent for administrators’ authority to determine what is too lewd or vulgar for their schools.

The Keep a Breast Foundation has been making the bracelets since 2004, said Kimmy McAtee, a spokeswoman for the foundation, a California-based nonprofit, but interest in them has been on the rise over the past two years. Their intent is to spark conversations among girls and women ages 13 to 35, Ms. McAtee said.

But the wristbands have also sparked controversy in the schoolyard. The combination of students’ civic sensibilities and their sophomoric sense of humor has put administrators in an awkward position.

Kayla Martinez, 12, and Brianna Hawk, 13, received in-school suspensions at Easton Area Middle School after sporting the bracelets on the school’s breast cancer awareness day, Oct. 28 — a day after the ban was announced.