Should females not wear pants?

[deb1]

You have to admit, the entire topic is very humorous to that portion of the world for whom “pants” means “underpants”

Shame on you for making me spit my fajita out with laughter.

 

[Cari]

Does anyone know how pants developed? I don’t know about y’all, but when I think “antiquity”, I think “toga”, and not “pants”, which leads me to wonder where and how pants developed. Maybe that would help determine if pants were, from their genesis, a male or female clothing option.

Cheers,
Cari

 

[TNT]

Does anyone know how pants developed? I don’t know about y’all, but when I think “antiquity”, I think “toga”, and not “pants”, which leads me to wonder where and how pants developed. Maybe that would help determine if pants were, from their genesis, a male or female clothing option.

Cheers,
Cari

Roy Rogers. http://www.classicphotos.com/Roy_Rogers/st-173.jpgand as proof, any photos with his wife Dale, she always wore a Skirt/dress, except one time. She tried on pants. Roy was shocked (and maybe other stuff). She stopped the experiment.
Riding horses all day in a toga was causing severe problems for American males. Also you could draw faster in pants. Eventually the traditionalist toga adherents were all killed in gunfights with their holsters tangled in their togas.
And that’s the truth.

 

[deb1]

Roy Rogers. http://www.classicphotos.com/Roy_Rogers/st-173.jpgand as proof, any photos with his wife Dale, she always wore a Skirt/dress, except one time. She tried on pants. Roy was shocked (and maybe other stuff). She stopped the experiment.
Riding horses all day in a toga was causing severe problems for American males. Also you could draw faster in pants. Eventually the traditionalist toga adherents were all killed in gunfights with their holsters tangled in their togas.
And that’s the truth.

Actually, I think pagans from northern Europe introduced pants to the world.

Considering how short those tunics were that Roman soldiers wore into battle, I’m amazed that they themselves didn’t come up with pants.

 

[Cari]

TNT, I’d always wondered about those old timey pictures of gunslingers wearing togas. You know, like where’d they go? But your concise answer has illuminated me.

And, personally, I suppose I’d wear dresses/skirts more often if I could find ones that didn’t make me look frumpy. Modesty doesn’t have to equal frumpiness. But I also have a secret love of those 50s era pictures of women in crenolins and aprons. And the gloves! Swoon!

Living down here in the South, I see a lot of Apolostic Pentecostal women who wear only ankle-length skirts and wrist-length shirts. I mention this only because the availability of modest women’s clothing seems to be limited, since many of the women wear long jean skirts with slits all the way up above their knee. Sure, you’re covered to the ankles, as long as you aren’t viewed from the back.

But my point (if I have one at all) is this: if women wearing pants is going to get stuck in your craw, so to speak, what about women who cut their hair, or leave it uncovered? When did those fashion markers become ok to shed? Or did they?

Cheers,
Cari

 

[MariaGorettiGrl]

Being in college, I’ve seen just as many inappropriate skirts as I have inappropriate pants. Whatever women wear, there will be someone who makes it too revealing.

If pants was an attempt to quash the differences between male and female, then it seems to me it failed miserably. Without getting too graphic, girls in pants still look like girls because of…other bodily parts…that stick out in other places. In other words, baggy t-shirts would have been a much better way to quash the differences.

Considering I’ve been volunteering at a mud farm (yes, we wrangle mud) and standing in 3 feet of mud every few days, I’m thinking a skirt would be a bad idea. I suppose a mini-skirt would work, but when I bent over, I think I’d be expressing a bit more of my femininity than I’d like to! :bigyikes:

 

[maryalene]

Even though other cultures may have had various ways to differientiate between the sexes regarding clothing, the important point is they most likely did differentiate by clothing and it was probably not considered right or proper for women to adopt men’s clothing (and vice-versa).

This is exactly my point: culture assigns appropriate and inappropriate fashions for men and women. In today’s culture, pants are not inherently considered masculine by our society’s standards.

Cardinal Siri refers to women wearing men’s trousers. Most women who wear pants are not wearing men’s trousers. I am guessing that in Cardinal Siri’s day, there were not racks and racks of women’s pants in the stores and those women who wearing trousers were wearing clothing intended for men. Slacks sold in stores today are intended for women.

I think it is also notable that Cardinal Siri himself says that women wearing pants are not immodest:

Firstly, when it comes to covering of the female body, the wearing of men’s trousers by women cannot be said to constitute AS SUCH A GRAVE OFFENSE AGAINST MODESTY, because trousers certainly cover more of woman’s body than do modern women’s skirts.

Finally, when Pope Benedict issues a directive that women should wear dresses and skirts exclusively, I most certainly will abide by the Holy Father’s wishes. However, as it currently stands, Cardinal Siri’s instruction *to those responsible for souls, for education, for Catholic associations *is not a binding requirement for the laity.

 

[Mary_Henley]

Should females not wear pants?


Goodness yes wear pants… Have some modesty!!..

This is a Catholic Forum ya know!

Thank you!
Ineeded a good laugh.

 

[Mary_Henley]

I am all for wearing the Muslim sheet thingy…it makes it easier for those of us who spend an inordinate amount of time picking out clothes to wear…( and I don’t have to work so hard holding my tummy in ).
Just think gals…no makeup needed! Well maybe a little mascara…

 

[deb1]

Living down here in the South, I see a lot of Apolostic Pentecostal women who wear only ankle-length skirts and wrist-length shirts. I mention this only because the availability of modest women’s clothing seems to be limited, since many of the women wear long jean skirts with slits all the way up above their knee. Sure, you’re covered to the ankles, as long as you aren’t viewed from the back.

But my point (if I have one at all) is this: if women wearing pants is going to get stuck in your craw, so to speak, what about women who cut their hair, or leave it uncovered? When did those fashion markers become ok to shed? Or did they?

Cheers,
Cari

I like clothing from the forties myself. I don’t know why I find forties fashion so appealing.

Yes, those dumpy dresses that some Christian women wear are very unappealing and make a bad witness to our faith. Who wants to belong to a faith that equates attractiveness with sinfulness?

I don’t think though that any one here is suggesting that women*** have*** to wear dresses. We are all debating our opinions but I don’t think that anyone has said that this is more then just a choice. Granted the choice might be more logical on one side then the other but it is still a choice. I doubt that anyone on this forum thinks that a female wearing pants is a mortal sin.

 

[deb1]

I am all for wearing the Muslim sheet thingy…it makes it easier for those of us who spend an inordinate amount of time picking out clothes to wear…( and I don’t have to work so hard holding my tummy in ).
Just think gals…no makeup needed! Well maybe a little mascara…

Its a burqua that you are thinking of.

 

[drafdog]

Okay, I’ve been dissed because I said this is a silly discussion. You have to admit that the phrasing of the question is intentionally humorous, indicating that the author does not consider it an entirely serious issue.
Have you any idea how absurd Siri would have appeared arguing that women should not wear pants in a community of Inuit? Just because his only life experience was among people of Western European culture does not give him the right to abuse the sartorial style of other peoples. Catholic still means “universal” and we are committed to accepting everyone from whatever society.
The genius of good evangelization is leaving behind your own culture to learn a new one in order to preach the word in terms that make sense to the target audience. St. Jean de Brebeuf spent years among the Hurons of southwestern Ontario (Upper Canada) before he made a single convert. All that time was spent living among them and learning their language, culture, values, etc. so that when he eventually spoke, he would speak as one of them and not as a foreigner. Siri speaks only to the Western European culture (and primarily the Italian culture) of his own time. This can hardly be said to be universally applicable to all Catholics of whatever culture. Or are we really advocating that the Inuit women stop wearing pants?
Try considering the fact that we are not the only people on the planet.
Matthew

 

[TNT]

Its a burqua that you are thinking of.

Woman in Afgan:http://www.fitz-claridge.com/images/Burqaface2th.jpg

 

[deb1]

drafdog, why is your post so wide? That happened to me when I put in a link once but your posts has no links.

I was the person who commented on your remark that the discussion was silly. I certainy don’t think that I ‘dissed’ you as I wasn’t rude nor was I trying to be. Of course we can’t see one another’s expressions on this forum to determine in what spirit something was said. So, it can be accidentally easy to offend someone when no anger was meant. I’ll apologize if I worded my post wrong or if I hurt your feelings. I didn’t mean to.

 

[CarolAnnSFO]

drafdog, why is your post so wide? That happened to me when I put in a link once but your posts has no links.

His location is extremely long!

And drafdog made some extremely good points in that wide post.

Why are we always so insistent that every Catholic dress according to Western European standards? Even within the United States, that makes no sense, and it makes even less sense when you consider all the different countries of the world.

 

[TNT]

drafdog, why is your post so wide? That happened to me when I put in a link once but your posts has no links.

I was the person who commented on your remark that the discussion was silly. I certainy don’t think that I ‘dissed’ you as I wasn’t rude nor was I trying to be. Of course we can’t see one another’s expressions on this forum to determine in what spirit something was said. So, it can be accidentally easy to offend someone when no anger was meant. I’ll apologize if I worded my post wrong or if I hurt your feelings. I didn’t mean to.

It’s the LENGTH of his LOCATION that causes it. There is no wrapping in the Location single line.

 

[deb1]

It’s the LENGTH of his LOCATION without spaces that causes it.

Ah…I see now.

 

[drafdog]

Just a PS on Siri.
Read through the letter and set it aside.
Consider how valid are his arguments regarding the “gender bending” effect of women wearing “men’s” clothing.
Now consider men in kilts.
How serious is his argument now? The poor man needed to get out of Genoa more often. And I don’t mean to travel to Rome.

Matthew

 

[deb1]

His location is extremely long!

And drafdog made some extremely good points in that wide post.

Why are we always so insistent that every Catholic dress according to Western European standards? Even within the United States, that makes no sense, and it makes even less sense when you consider all the different countries of the world.

I don’t think that there is a culture that does not have a standard of modesty. Granted that standard of modesty might be different then ours but they do have a standard.

I read an article on a tribe in the Amazon who went nude. The females sat with their legs in a certain position so their privates wouldn’t show. Guess what? This was their standard and it was fine for them.

The problem with modern society is that we no longer have any standard. The bible tells us to be modest but we no longer have any cultural norms to fall back on to justify our choices. Everything is based on the individual’s personal judgement.

I think that is where some of the confusion is coming from.

Let’s face it, if you had to describe to an alien from Mars what decent attire was for an American female, it would be hard to do so.

 

[CarolAnnSFO]

I don’t think that there is a culture that does not have a standard of modesty. Granted that standard of modesty might be different then ours but they do have a standard.

I was actually referring to clothing styles, not standards of modesty. To assume that women have to wear dresses in order to be modest is a very Euro-centric view, which doesn’t even apply to the US, much less the whole world.