Andreas Hofer:
The question that always comes to my mind when this issue is raised is: how does one today determine what is men’s and women’s dress?
They key thing is to realize that what is masculine clothing and feminine clothing is
not an arbitrary thing nor something that is simply determined by the whims of which place and time you are in. What is masculine clothing is that clothing which is
fitting for a man; feminine, that which is
fitting for a woman – this means that which is
objectively fitting for a man and woman respectively. When we speak of how it was fitting that Mary be a virgin or Mary be immaculate, that is not meant to say that it was fitting from this or that perspective of this or that culture – rather what is meant is that it was
objectively fitting.
That’s what society today does not understand. Clothes aren’t simply something that someone is to wear on his whims. Clothes are meant to express
what is objectively true.
Everything we do is meant to express what is true … whether much thought is put into it or not. So the question is, “Are these clothes true to my nature as a woman?” or “Are these clothes true to my nature as a man?” or “Do these clothes conform to a proper expression of my womanhood and my person?” etc.
God gave us bodies for a reason. Angels are pure spirits. Rocks and trees are pure matter (even though trees are animated by material principles called “souls”). Only men are “in between” matter and spirit in that we are both spiritual and corporeal, possessing both bodies and souls. Our bodies were made to
express the beauty inherent in our souls – especially such beauty as may come to inhere in our souls thanks to the gift of divine life we receive in Baptism and the sacraments. Our clothes are an
extension of our bodies and thus our clothes too have the purpose of expressing the beauty inherent in our souls. However, the virtue of modesty may call for a
moderation in that expression … for just because something is good does not mean that the whole world needs to see it or that you need to advertise it!
And, to
contradict with one’s choice of clothing the sex, manifest in body and soul, that God has given you would be an act of ingratitude as well as an act against the turth, against what you are meant to be.
So should one conclude that pants are acceptable because they are a staple of modern women’s fashion, or should one conclude that they are not acceptable because this is only a recent development in dress and is perhaps one that Catholic culture should never have accepted to begin with?
Good question!
I would say that in some cases the situation may be “gray” meaning that it is difficult to determine whether it is proper or improper and perhaps people would have reasonable disagreements about it. But that should not lead us to totally discard the principle! You don’t discard the air conditioner (or heater) because in some cases it’s not clear whether it would be useful to use it … you don’t conclude, “the answer is not clear in these cases, so the aire conditioner has got to be a totally useless gadget”
I would ask these kinds of questions.
Does the clothing accentuate the natural shape or figure of a woman?
Does the clothing try to make the woman look the same as a man?
Does the clothing allow one to discern whether the person wearing it is a man versus a woman? (Note how you can tell whether a religious is male or female by traditional religious habits)
Does the clothing reflect a special modesty that is proper to women who are called, after the example of Mary, to be modest and humble and quiet in a special way?
Does the clothing express my womanhood, my unique person which includes my being a woman?
Obviously if you wore clothing that said “There is no male and female. God got it wrong.” that would be a terrible sin! But there are ways of expressing that kind of statement without using words. People can express things by gestures, simply the look of their eyes, subtle smiles, and yes, even by their choice of clothing
