women's bodies when they are presented in public with a kind of anxiety and concern

[GoodTaste]

The phrase "women's bodies when they are presented in public with a kind of anxiety and concern" is not clear to me.

What do "they" refer to? Grammatically, "they" refer back to "women's bodies". Then "with a kind of anxiety and concern" would refer to "which cause a kind of anxiety and concern in other people's mind"? I am not sure. The phrase appears to be confusing to me.

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Bracewell said using language such as "distracting" in the dress code sends a message to young girls that there's something inappropriate or unseemly about their bodies and that they have to compensate in some way.

"That's a bad message. That's a message that damages the self-esteem of young people," she said.

Bracewell said she thinks the yearbook issue reinforces that message.

Across the country, "This is a long-established practice of policing women's bodies and responding to women's bodies when they are presented in public with a kind of anxiety and concern," she said.

Source: USAToday

 

[jutfrank]

Read it like this:

This is a long-established practice of policing women's bodies and responding to women's bodies [when they are presented in public] with a kind of anxiety and concern.