First, there's this gem of a video on why Christian women shouldn't wear bikinis, though, to be fair, the guy doesn't actually say that. He just guilts them into it. This showed up from several sites that all basically ranted and railed against it for contributing to the culture that women are asking to be assaulted when they dress provocatively. Or perhaps that women are responsible for the thoughts in men's heads.
Second, apparently even the slim I-represent-like-only-1%-(if that)-of-women models aren't good enough anymore. Actual human women need not apply to model H&M bikinis and lingerie.
And third, some overzealous BYU-I testing center employee kicked a girl out for wearing skinny jeans. (There are several instances of Poe's Law in that article.) Luckily, BYU-I itself said the employee had gone too far.
Oh, modesty. What would undergrads at the various BYUs talk about without you?
Look people, let's get a few things straight:
1. You, and you alone, are responsible for what goes on in your head. No amount of skin is going to make you do anything. Travel too far down that road, and you might ban eyes. (But just the "tempting" ones.)
2. That being said, it is actually possible to convey different things with the clothing you wear. So keep that in mind when you dress. This goes for everybody. There's a lot of spectrum between "I just saw the bikini and went crazy" and "I am completely immune to what others are wearing and am 100% in control of every molecule in my body," and acknowledging that fact doesn't mean I think girls are asking to be assaulted.
On that note, I want this t-shirt:
[Edit: I didn't realize, in reading this over, that it looked like I wanted to assault women because of the way I juxtaposed the t-shirt with point 2. It's just a funny t-shirt. I don't want to assault women. But I suppose, to be fair, somedays I think it might be fun to be a super villain. Really, though, I just want to be know as the guy that wears funny t-shirts. That's what I'm trying to say with my clothing, that I'm kinda goofy. Sorry for the confusion, and thanks for pointing it out, Emily.]
3. Women are under an enormous amount of pressure to "look good," in our society. Given the way fashions actually work, if a woman is at all curvy, she's going to have "form-fitting" clothes. So instead of pointing out that the jeans hug their hips, let's just not be all pharisaical about this issue, because that's just not going to help at all. Especially if the testing center closes in 30 minutes. *sigh* Because you're just going to get made fun of.
4 comments:
In answer to your first question: beards. That's what the BYU/BYU-I (and probably BYU-H) students discuss when modesty is off the table. In fact, I've sometimes wondered if the real reason BYU sticks to the clean-shaven policy is so that it doesn't feel blatantly sexist to spend so much time discussing the appearance of female students.
More seriously, though, you're raising interesting points - have you seen the meme about modesty that's been traversing facebook recently? I'd also point out that your perspective on this issue seems to have shifted in subtle but significant ways since you last lived in Provo.
On the other hand, could you elaborate on your decision to include that T-shirt logo directly after discussing how clothing influences thoughts? There are some disturbing implications that I doubt you meant, so I'd like to hear more before j'accuse.
I'm also not sure whether you're being sincere or sarcastic when you refer to the video as a "gem."
I've seen the modesty meme, and I think it's hilarious.
I fixed the t-shirt thing and explained myself more thoroughly. Thanks for pointing that out, it was completely unintentional.
Though, I'm curious what you think has shifted about my thoughts. I actually don't think they have changed so much as I perhaps did a better job of explaining them. For example, when I watched the video for the first time, I agreed with it. Upon a second watch, however, I began to find flaws with it. But on some surface level, I still agree with portions of it.
But I was being sarcastic when I called it a "gem," having analyzed it more thoroughly.
Carl, I actually thought your perspective had changed a little in ways that I find positive. You've always believed that clothing influenced others, but that personal responsibility for actions and thoughts ultimately comes first. But I feel like you used to put more emphasis on the influence of clothing. Not necessarily more emphasis than on accountability, but if it was 2:3 ratio before, it's more a 1:4 ratio now. That sounds confusing, but I'm hoping I just think it's confusing because I've spent too much reading admissions forms, etc.
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