It's December 4 already, and you know what that means. We're rapidly approaching the time of year that we all know and love—Wear Pants to Church Day (hereafter shortened for convenience to Wear Pants Day.)
Gotcha there, didn't I? Now, I realize that not everyone knows what Wear Pants Day is. And of those who do, many certainly don't love it. I won't tell you how I feel about Wear Pants Day, at least not exactly (because that would require another whole blog post), but I will explain why I appreciate the sentiments.
Last year on December 16, a group of LDS women wore pants (rather than skirts or dresses) to their Sunday church meetings. They also encouraged men, as well as those women not wearing pants, to wear purple as a sign of solidarity for the Mormon feminist movement.
This day was not meant as a protest; you see, official Church statements (from both 1971 and 2012) remind members that our only guideline for wearing clothes to Sunday meetings is that we try to be modest and respectful toward the Lord. As LDS women, we are not by any means required to wear skirts or dresses to church.
However, there is certainly a cultural bias against those women who choose not to wear skirts or dresses. I personally grew up believing that the phrase "Sunday dress" literally meant "a dress you might wear on Sunday." I occasionally saw women wear pants to church and I usually felt a little resentment. I'd think, She can't bring herself to wear a skirt one day of the week? Would it really kill her?
But why does it really matter? I've heard a lot of arguments for why women should wear skirts rather than pants to church. Yet, now that I've grown and thought more about these issues, none of the reasons for banning pants seems adequate to me. I've addressed two core thoughts below:
- Some people point out that we should never dress down for church. I completely agree with that. I just don't think that nice linen dress pants should be considered dressing down. Many dress pants I've seen look ten times nicer than some of the skirts or dresses I have worn myself in the past. There's a reason this event is not called Wear Sloppy Clothes to Church Day. Those involved do not advocate for LDS women to wear casual attire to church (unless it's their best, in which case they should come as they are!) They simply wish to make it more culturally acceptable to wear a wide variety of modest, respectful attire.
- Others say that wearing a dress to church is more respectful because it emphasizes a woman's femininity. To those people I ask: do I look manly the six days of the week that I wear jeans to campus? Just because I'm wearing pants? No, I don't. Because pants are generally considered gender-neutral. Besides, I can express my divine womanhood—as a devoted daughter of God—in much more profound ways than by simply wearing traditionally girly clothes. I can stand as a witness of my faith and my religion; I can show love to friends and family; I can magnify my calling. Heavenly Father knows that all of His children have starkly different personalities. He does not expect us to fill a tiny box outlined by preconceived notions of the ideal feminine woman. (Anyway, skirts and skirt-like clothes have traditionally been worn by men in plenty of other cultures. So what makes the skirt essentially feminine?)
All of this is just a really long-winded way for me to say that I hold nothing against women who choose to wear pants to church. I encourage any female who feels more comfortable in pants to embrace them. If the rest of you are ill at ease with seeing women in pants at church, try to look past the clothing and love the individuals for who they are. It's not our business to dictate what others wear or how they act. We should focus on ourselves, and how much we emulate the Savior.
The issue here is not truly about pants, but about accepting others and trying not to alienate those with different tastes, ideas, or personalities. Sometimes the culture of the LDS Church can feel a bit homogeneous. In reality, it should be a glorious display of all kinds of wonderful, beautiful people who feel like they belong! We should worry not about whether a group of women are wearing pants to church but about whether they feel welcomed and loved.
Kelsey Allan is a senior studying English and editing.
ADSENSE HERE
Kelsey Allan is a senior studying English and editing.