Friday, January 6, 2012

Why I wear skirts

A few months ago, I was sitting alone with the computer on a weekend night, so I thought I would look into a subject that I had pondered about off and on for a while, the subject of whether Christian young ladies should wear pants or not.  For years I had worn skirts mostly, liking the style (I am more of an old-fashioned dresser) but until that night I hadn't really considered always wearing them.  I read a lot of great articles by Christian girls and women that encouraged me in my decision, and these are some of the points that they brought up:

1. Skirts are more feminine than pants.

Look at these two pictures.  Can you tell which is the woman and which is the man?  It's easy.  If the lady wasn't wearing a bracelet and high heels and had a shirt on just like the guy's in the picture, would you be able to tell that she was a girl?  Of course, because of her pretty, feminine-looking skirt.  Now look at these two pictures:

Now can you tell which is the woman and which is the man?  Harder, right?  If she was wearing a men's shirt and shoes, could you tell if she was a boy or girl? 

     Now I'm not saying that when you wear pants, you automatically look masculine and everyone will think that you are a guy.  My point in showing you these pictures is that you will look much more feminine wearing a skirt  and that is what women of Christ should achieve to be, as feminine as possible.


2. Skirts are more modest than pants

Skirts draw less attention to your body.  I think that when when young ladies wear pants, they are really  pulling a skin tight layer over their bodies.  You may say, "Well I don't wear skinny jeans", but is it really that different?  If you don't think that your pants are all that bad, try this.  Put on a pair of jeans and stand right in front of a mirror and bend down slowly looking into the mirror the whole time.  Now, I'm not by the mirror with you, so I can't tell if your pants are immodest or not, but just think, "This is what people see when I bend over."  If you are not satisfied with what you see, put a dress on, and I think you will find that it helps.    Remember that we are responsible for dressing modestly for our brothers in Christ.  When they think impure thoughts it is mostly our fault, not theirs.  How can you keep your brothers safe?  If you are ever unsure about a piece of clothing, ask one of the guys in your family or your dad if it is modest.  It's very likely that they would know.  Also, be cautious when picking out your skirts.  Not all are modest, many are not, but I am talking about the longer (at least knee-length) skirts without the high slits when I say that they are more modest than pants.


3. Skirts were meant for girls

The world has over gone some pretty drastic changes over the last 200 years or so, but one of the biggest changes is the idea of woman's rights, or feminism.  "The world makes me appear as if I am not special.  All I can do is stay at home.  I want to be out in the fast lane.  He can do it, why can't I.  I deserve to have a better life because I can do anything he can!"  These are some of the ideas that this movement has started, along with the idea of women wearing pants.  I was running with one of my best friends once and talking to her about this subject when she answered me, "Yes, but men used to wear dresses."  That required a lot of thought but it occurred to me.  Men never wore women's dresses, they wore men's "dresses".  Go to google.com and search for "early Roman clothing for men".  Then put women instead of men and compare.  Do the same thing with Greek clothing, Jewish clothing, and others.  Men and women had different clothing for centuries, and just recently have we bridged that gap.  But if men could just start wearing pants, why can't women?  Because, to tell the truth, women weren't meant for them.  Pants are not the right kind of clothing that are meant for a women's job, which is picking up toys, cleaning toilets, carrying children; stuff that a person needs to be wearing flexible and comfortable clothing for.  Also, did you notice the time period that I asked you to look up?  That was a long time ago!  As you can see, men have been wearing pants for quite some time now; they are men's clothes!


4. Skirts cause you to care more about the way you dress and act

Have you ever seen a lady in a beautiful flowing skirt with a baggy T-shirt and running shoes?  Have you ever seen a lady in a pair of jeans with a baggy T-shirt and running shoes?  The first outfit is one I have never seen, while the second I see regularly.  Why is that?  Skirts encourage you to dress nicer and in a prettier way.  It's OK to wear a dressy shirt!  Save the T-shirts for sleeping, working, and playing, not for going out to the mall; and boots or some pretty flats or flip-flops look so much more stylish than sneakers!  Skirts can also affect the way that you act.  They can cause you to be more sophisticated and graceful and even sometimes more gentle.  All these things are essential to being a lady.  (I'm still working on the sophisticated part :)


I hope that this throws out some information to you and that you will deeply consider wearing skirts as an alternative to pants.  There are some CUTE skirts out there, you can find a lot at thrift stores, and, if you don't want to appear much different from everybody else, you can wear them just as if you were experimenting on different styles!  Try them with wacky leggings or cute scarfs for belts.  You can do so many different pretty things!  Oh, one more thing.  Many people think that when they start wearing skirts, their list of activities must diminish.  Not at all!  Although you might have to be careful with a few activities, you can do endless things with a skirt (except running, you have to wear shorts for that, just be modest and change afterward).  I was running around the back yard with an airsoft gun yesterday, and jumping my brother's bike ramp a few days ago (I'm still working on the sophisticated part) all in a skirt.

 Thank you so much for spending your time reading this.  I hope it was worth it and that I have given you something to think about.

A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 22:5


Autie






1 comment:

  1. the skirt is so beautiful!! i want one... :)

    ReplyDelete

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Autie