Should Catholics support new laws on banning certain fashions?

[Melek]

Melek, it is obvious that you are either in your teens or early twenties and are the victim of raging hormones.

You’re right, I’m in my early twenties. It’s very difficult for me to not get aroused. I can control myself on the computer by simply avoiding any web sites with provocative content. However, in public, I cannot avoid encountering women who dress in a manner that triggers certain biological functions in me.

The fashion industry is destroying the lives of young men by designing and selling clothes that are immoral to wear.

 

[stephe1987]

I do think women should dress more modestly, and there should be laws regarding billboard ads and magazine covers at the supermarket checkout stands. Some are a bit extreme and no woman in real life would walk around town looking like that.

But the truth is that even if a woman is wearing a tent, some man somewhere will lust after her. Men need to learn self-mastery and self-control of their thoughts so that women’s clothes do not bother them.

 

[ChangedMan]

Yes, you soo right, i’m suffering from depression from this, EVERY GIRL in my college dresses like they are in a strip club or club, this sickens me because my mind enjoys this but my soul doesn’t anyone have any tips on how to avoid this?

 

[Melek]

Yes, you soo right, i’m suffering from depression from this, EVERY GIRL in my college dresses like they are in a strip club or club, this sickens me because my mind enjoys this but my soul doesn’t anyone have any tips on how to avoid this?

I also go to college and I agree with you. Women on college campuses dress like they’re heading to work at a strip club. I can’t control getting aroused when I see them. I can’t avoid them since they’re all over my campus.

 

[ChangedMan]

I also go to college and I agree with you. Women on college campuses dress like they’re heading to work at a strip club. I can’t control getting aroused when I see them. I can’t avoid them since they’re all over my campus.

It drives me insane especially since I dedicated my life to the Holy Father and Lord Jesus Christ, and it makes me really depress especially since i’m a loner and really barely talk to anyone or hang out with everyone, I can’t control what the whole student body wears but it’s just ridiculous they dress like they are barely wearing clothes and it’s everywhere, i’m really starting to think that the quote the the lord said is the only option, “if the eye make you sin, poke it out it’s better to be without a eye and make it to heaven” I think it was something like that.

 

[edwest2]

I’m a young man and it’s very tempting for me to go home and masturbate whenever I see a woman dressed provocatively. Fashion these days reveals so much on women. The winter time used to be safe but even that has turned into a time of temptation with all the tight yoga pants young women are wearing these days.

Should Catholics support new laws to not allow certain fashions that are distracting? Many of my Muslim friends who are from countries such as Pakistan agree with me on this.

I think people, Catholic and non-Catholic, should be taught what modesty means. In the case of women, it took years, but too many were gradually brainwashed into thinking that showing a lot of skin is OK. So, some advice:

Stay away from the beach. I will never go to see women of any age walking around in their underwear or less.

Inform others, online, that modesty matters because it shows you value yourself and you value other human beings. Men are not women, but women are gradually becoming oversexualized as well.

It’s good that you’re honest about masturbation since too many men, young and old, suffer from what can only be called an addiction. Pray to God for help and strength.

God bless,
Ed

 

[ChangedMan]

I hear ya.
When I see men wearing certain fashions or dressed provocatively, I have the same temptation.

Seriously?Personally I think it’s way easier for women to control this than men, just my opinion.

 

[Melek]

Seriously?Personally I think it’s way easier for women to control this than men, just my opinion.

It’s not just your opinion, it’s a biological fact. Men are wired differently and are tempted sexually by women a lot more easily than vice versa. I believe the story of Adam and Eve is very symbolic of this.

However, it it helps, I don’t mind seeing fashion restrictions on male fashion either…

 

[Blue_Goose]

Absolutely not!

In the United States of America we do not believe it is the place of government to make laws banning fashions for either male or female citizens. We are citizens of a constitutional republic, not a theocracy, and such laws would not be tolerated.

The entire concept of forcing women to cover themselves because males can not or will not control their urges is an entirely foreign and quite frankly repulsive concept to us.

If a man sexually assaults a woman in our society it is a crime (a felony to be exact). The Catholic Church would regard such an assault as a mortal sin. It does not matter if the woman is wearing a full length skirt, shorts, exercise pants, blue jeans or any other apparel. Our society expects men to control their biological urges and our laws demand it.

Self control is taught to children from an early age by both the family and the church. Those that stray from those teachings pay the consequences one way or another.

I understand that subjection of women by males in Muslim countries is the norm, but we do not and will not tolerate those traditions here in the United States.

De Oppresso Liber

 

[NeedsMercy]

troll?

 

[edwest2]

Absolutely not!

In the United States of America we do not believe it is the place of government to make laws banning fashions for either male or female citizens. We are citizens of a constitutional republic, not a theocracy, and such laws would not be tolerated.

The entire concept of forcing women to cover themselves because males can not or will not control their urges is an entirely foreign and quite frankly repulsive concept to us.

If a man sexually assaults a woman in our society it is a crime (a felony to be exact). The Catholic Church would regard such an assault as a mortal sin. It does not matter if the woman is wearing a full length skirt, shorts, exercise pants, blue jeans or any other apparel. Our society expects men to control their biological urges and our laws demand it.

Self control is taught to children from an early age by both the family and the church. Those that stray from those teachings pay the consequences one way or another.

I understand that subjection of women by males in Muslim countries is the norm, but we do not and will not tolerate those traditions here in the United States.

De Oppresso Liber

Have you seen what our lawmakes have been approving lately? Seriously.

And quit playing the Muslim card, please.

No offense, but you’ve obviously missed the bajillon commercials for sex related pills, etc. or missed all the daytime soaps. Or missed how models and actresses are constantly displaying body parts on TV, in the movies and elsewhere. Society is NOT reinforcing self-control AT ALL.

Ed

 

[aspirant]

I’m a young man and it’s very tempting for me to go home and masturbate whenever I see a woman dressed provocatively.

One of the best remedies will be training your heart and mind to view women as whole persons, to love them for their own sakes, to strive to serve and do each good. Devote yourself to the study and practice of virtue and you will become less inclined to objectify other people. Chastity is not something negative, merely suppressing yourself and others, it is something positive, elevating everyone who comes into contact with it.

Should Catholics support new laws to not allow certain fashions that are distracting?

No.

I am a male North American who lived in a Muslim country for several years. The idea that women covering themselves reduces the lust of the men surrounding them is completely false. This muslim country has men that are hyper sexualized and frustrated, even more so than North America. They treat the women in the street who are covered or uncovered as objects. This is in an environment of women being covered head to toe!

I am reminded of the following story from the United Kingdom:
"Yasmin Alibhai-Brown:

Two years ago, Shahida, a young Muslim college student in London, took on the hejab to assert her Muslim identity, much to the consternation of her middle-class Westernised family. Last month, she decided to give it up.

Her reasons? Receipt of another anonymous letter from a young white student, declaring his lust for her in no uncertain terms. He wanted to rip her clothes off and possess her, he said, because she seemed so utterly unattainable. To her astonishment, a Muslim male student had also started whispering suggestive things to her as she walked past, all about how her modesty turned him on.

This is not an isolated case… After an article I wrote about Muslim women in Bosnia - photographed in hejab - I had five letters from white men telling me how intensely desirable they found women who covered themselves. Interviews on the subject I recently conducted with men in London were equally disturbing.

As desertstudent’s post and Alibhai-Brown’s article clearly demonstrate, covering women does not necessarily reduce men’s objectification of women. In Shahida’s case, objectification increased to the point that she became the recipient of anonymous rape threats.

look to change yourself, before you go legislating the behaviour of others. I am sure you can find numerous verses from the New Testament of Jesus’ words that support that.

Your words remind me of these: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

a man who can’t control himself in the face of yoga pants is not going to be able to control himself in the face of regular, day-to-day conversation with attractive women…

it seems to me that these laws suggest to women that they are at fault for men’s bad behaviour, and therefore cultures that live under these laws suffer greater violence against women and judicial cultures that make that violence more acceptable even in courts of law…

As a matter of justice, it would not be fair: taking away a woman’s freedom because of men’s lack of virtue is not assigning the duty to avoid sin where it properly belongs – with the man who commissions the sin, rather than with the woman who (may accidentally) trigger a certain temptation towards it. This, to me, is the most serious problem with it.

My point is that it has no positive effect, I have experienced it first hand. I would even venture to say that this outward focus on the behaviour of others and not yourself will have a net increase in the objectification of women…

Jail time? …This sounds like a total troll.

I’m just disturbed that fashion today is so much more provocative than it was in say the 90s.

What I see in clothing stores looks like the 1980s.

 

[aspirant]

Seek purity instead of creating a laundry list of new rules.

the truth is that even if a woman is wearing a tent, some man somewhere will lust after her. Men need to learn self-mastery and self-control of their thoughts so that women’s clothes do not bother them.

Personally I think it’s way easier for women to control this than men, just my opinion.

You can’t really know what another person’s interior struggles are.

IMen are wired differently and are tempted sexually by women a lot more easily than vice versa. I believe the story of Adam and Eve is very symbolic of this.

This is not a very Catholic reading of Genesis.

 

[Cable]

I’m a young man and it’s very tempting for me to go home and masturbate whenever I see a woman dressed provocatively. Fashion these days reveals so much on women. The winter time used to be safe but even that has turned into a time of temptation with all the tight yoga pants young women are wearing these days.

Should Catholics support new laws to not allow certain fashions that are distracting? Many of my Muslim friends who are from countries such as Pakistan agree with me on this.

Are you serious!!!
I love my country, but I don’t see how it’s the government’s responsibility to legislate personal dress codes, especially to non-religious people. If we started down that path, then people from other countries wouldn’t desire to come here, because it would just be more of the same. This is America! Where men and women want to make their own way in life. I agree with you in the sense that God-fearing women should give their brothers a break with what they wear, but simultaneously, you need to gain custody of your eyes.

 

[Melek]

Absolutely not!

In the United States of America we do not believe it is the place of government to make laws banning fashions for either male or female citizens. We are citizens of a constitutional republic, not a theocracy, and such laws would not be tolerated.

The entire concept of forcing women to cover themselves because males can not or will not control their urges is an entirely foreign and quite frankly repulsive concept to us.

If a man sexually assaults a woman in our society it is a crime (a felony to be exact). The Catholic Church would regard such an assault as a mortal sin. It does not matter if the woman is wearing a full length skirt, shorts, exercise pants, blue jeans or any other apparel. Our society expects men to control their biological urges and our laws demand it.

Self control is taught to children from an early age by both the family and the church. Those that stray from those teachings pay the consequences one way or another.

I understand that subjection of women by males in Muslim countries is the norm, but we do not and will not tolerate those traditions here in the United States.

De Oppresso Liber

Those who support abortion make the same argument about the US not being a theocracy.

Also, how dare you compare masturbation to raping a woman. If you actually knew something about rape, you would know that in most cases, men don’t rape women out of lust.

 

[aspirant]

Also, how dare you compare masturbation to raping a woman.

Both are rooted in the objectification of others.

 

[Melek]

Both are rooted in the objectification of others.

It’s a lot more complex than that. Most rape cases don’t happen because of fashion. However, many masturbation cases happen because of fashion. The comparison was very inappropriate.

 

[Blue_Goose]

Have you seen what our lawmakes have been approving lately? Seriously.

And quit playing the Muslim card, please.

No offense, but you’ve obviously missed the bajillon commercials for sex related pills, etc. or missed all the daytime soaps. Or missed how models and actresses are constantly displaying body parts on TV, in the movies and elsewhere. Society is NOT reinforcing self-control AT ALL.

Ed

I am well aware of what is going on in society, congress, world events even though I do not watch much TV. You are right, society is definitely not reinforcing self control. But, as I said, that is a job for family and the Church. It will not get done any other way in our secular society.

As far as my comment about Muslim societies I make no apology. First because it is true and second you may have read the post from Melek about his Muslim friends supporting the idea of legislating fashion. That is what prompted me to respond the way I did.

You may want to check out Robert Spencer at www.jihadwatch.com.

 

[SuzanneD]

The comment I want to make is so inflammatory. Let me just say instead that there is no way to legally mandate modesty, so I guess you will have to man-up, and look away. Try making eye contact. Try thinking of women as your sisters instead of as pieces of meat. We live in a society where a lot of women only feel worth by how beautiful or sexy they appear to others. Maybe have pity on them, that they don’t feel worthy of honest love and respect.

 

[Melek]

The comment I want to make is so inflammatory. Let me just say instead that there is no way to legally mandate modesty, so I guess you will have to man-up, and look away. Try making eye contact. Try thinking of women as your sisters instead of as pieces of meat. We live in a society where a lot of women only feel worth by how beautiful or sexy they appear to others. Maybe have pity on them, that they don’t feel worthy of honest love and respect.

Suzanne, we have to push for these laws to become reality. It doesn’t just help young men stop masturbating (and so stop committing mortal sins that could damn them to Hell for eternity) but to also help women. These laws would force the fashion industry to no longer make provocative clothing. Women will not have to worry about dressing provocatively to get attention or to feel good.

Remember, the fashion industry is controlled by Satan, as is Hollywood, the porn industry, North Korea, and Iran.