Are leggings pants?
There have been many off the cuff arguments about whether or not leggings qualify as pants, even to the point that some schools have banned them altogether. More recently, one mom has decided to pen a short commentary explaining, “I’m just a Catholic mother of four sons with a problem that only girls can solve: leggings.” She continues on by explaining that as she was sitting in church that there were a bunch of girls, in…*gasp*…leggings! I suppose it was hard for her to turn away, and she further explained, “A world in which women continue to be depicted as ‘babes’ by movies, video games, music videos, etc. makes it hard on Catholic mothers to teach their sons that women are someone’s daughters and sisters.” Clearly, leggings are the culprit for this difficult notion to be understood… {please note my heavy sarcasm}.
She argued that her sons did not notice the women in leggings in front of them at church, but she admitted, “…you couldn’t help but see those blackly naked rear ends. I didn’t want to see them — but they were unavoidable. How much more difficult for young guys to ignore them.” This woman then ends her editorial by pleading with girls everywhere to PLEASE wear jeans! She compares wearing leggings to walking around naked and implores women to really choose appropriate clothing so that Catholic mothers everywhere can rest at ease that their sons won’t be tempted to stare.
I mean…this was a REAL article.
I cannot help to think immediately of the exhibits that have been done that show what women wore when they were raped. The too-common mentality that a woman asked to be raped by her choice of clothing is absolutely and utterly absurd. This article that argues that women are asking to be stared at by men because they choose to wear leggings is just as absurd. You might think my comparison is a bit dramatic, but what this all boils down to is that women are made to feel that their clothing is a distraction to men. That what a woman wears calls for being raped, being stared at or gawked at, and most significantly, warrants a man to do what he pleases because of your choice of outfit that day.
I think this ideology begins as early as elementary school. I showed my daughter a cute tank top at the store the other day, thinking that it’s going to get warmer out and, ya know, she might need some clothes to keep her cool. However, she quickly responded that she isn’t allowed to wear tank tops to school. I didn’t push the subject, but it angered me and made me think… “Are her 7-year-old arms going to distract someone?” Similarly, many high school students are not allowed to wear cold shoulder tops. Excuse me, but if a high school girl’s shoulder is taking away from someone else’s learning experience, then maybe they have bigger problems! Dress codes that specify certain parts of a woman’s body be covered up, imply that a woman’s body is a distraction.
At the end of the day, a woman should be able to wear what she is comfortable in, NOT what makes someone else comfortable.
People wonder why women are so self-conscious or unsure of themselves, and the weight of a woman’s choice in clothes certainly does not help the matter. Maybe we need to re-think dress codes and re-think the idea that the person judging or staring might be the one with the bigger problem in need of addressing.
What is your take on the leggings debate? Or, on dress codes in general?
