Women should only wear skirts?

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Monica4316 said:
I decided, I’m going to try and imitate the Blessed Mother as best I can, and I hope she would guide me and help me understand what that means 🙂

thank you for all your posts.

God bless
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If you are feeling called to cover your head, at Mass, occasionally or all the time, we have a headcovering group over at the Back Fence

(you may have posted there already, I just don’t have time to weed through the whole thread)

But wanted you to know that it’s a safe haven to talk about this discernment.

God bless, Dana
 
I realize this isn’t exactly what you’re wanting to know, but here’s how I see it.

First, I think most women look better in skirts than in pants. Pants can be sort of unflattering, and most women really don’t look very good in them, at least that’s what I think.

I think a lot of this “church dress code” depends on age and marital status. I guess I’m awful, but I think unmarried women ought to doll up as well as they are able, if they consider themselves marriageable. Not vulgar, not obscene, just at their best and as attractively as possible. After all, there might be marriageable men there too, and God knows too many young men nowadays defer marriage endlessly or are too “picky”. Perhaps they need all the encouragement a woman can muster. I see nothing wrong with that. If God had intended for women to be plain and unattractive, he would not have made them so attractive and readily beautifiable.

The married men should keep their eyes to themselves.
 
Ridgerunner said:
I guess I’m awful, but I think unmarried women ought to doll up as well as they are able, if they consider themselves marriageable. Not vulgar, not obscene, just at their best and as attractively as possible. After all, there might be marriageable men there too,
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Absolutely. It’s winter here and everyone looks sort of drudgy and dingy walking around in the same old winter coat and jeans uniform - it’s an unstated uniform but everywhere. Nothing like a flowy skirt with a silky, lacy (yet modest) top or a rustly dress. And we women get treated better when we look feminine. Sad but true.
 
Hi,

I am a catholic and I don’t wear skirts but I would like to if it was practical for me. I do think that wearing dresses or skirts
for women is better because God is pro having clear delineation between males and females. He is not the author of confusion
the devil is, and that’s why God says its better for men to have short hair and women should have long hair because we are
different for good reason and by God’s design
 
Young_Thinker said:
Pantsuits are outstandingly ugly and not exactly feminine.
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Pants are practical and warm especially in winter. Having a cold wind go up your skirt is a most chilling experience.Feminine?
In some cultures pants are the norm for woman and very feminine they have become so for american women.
 
juliamajor said:
Pants are practical and warm especially in winter. Having a cold wind go up your skirt is a most chilling experience.Feminine?
In some cultures pants are the norm for woman and very feminine they have become so for american women.
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I appreciate your response, but leggings, socks, and stockings are for when it is cold. We are not in the Orient, and, if we were, that is still not to say that trousers are attractive upon ladies.
 
Young_Thinker said:
I appreciate your response, but leggings, socks, and stockings are for when it is cold. We are not in the Orient, and, if we were, that is still not to say that trousers are attractive upon ladies.
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Depends on the lady and the trousers, I think. 🙂 And what said lady is doing.

Horseback riding, swimming, running, working on an ambulance, lifeguarding . . . there aren’t too many times in my day-to-day life where wearing a skirt is even safe, or at all feasible/modest. I do love to wear them for Mass, though–it always feels special to dress up for Jesus, so to speak.
 
Moscati said:
Depends on the lady and the trousers, I think. 🙂 And what said lady is doing.

Horseback riding, swimming, running, working on an ambulance, lifeguarding . . . there aren’t too many times in my day-to-day life where wearing a skirt is even safe, or at all feasible/modest. I do love to wear them for Mass, though–it always feels special to dress up for Jesus, so to speak.
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Very well.
 
A head covering is Scriptural. Modesty in dress is two fold and applies to both Men and Women. Love of GOD and Charity for neighbor. You are in the presense of the Blessed Sacrament. To some that means little and to some that means everything. Likewise - when a Man or Woman dresses inappropriately that fact alone can lead to Sins by their Neighbor of lust. Do you want to be standing in front of Our Lord answering for the Condemnation of a third party because you failed to be modest in dress? I think that in todays society - two things have occured. the gravity of Actual Sin is not first and foremost in our conscienceness. I think many people today dress like many other people do today because they see them dress that way and thus are used to seeing immodest dress. Or they see outrageous dress and even though their own dress isnt as outrageous - they use false justification to legitimize their own shortcomings. Now we can talk about what should or shouldnt be worn - but in the final analysis humans are not going to be your judge. Neither is this hedonistic society we all call home. My suggestion is to revisit the Examination of Conscience by St Alphonsus Ligouri and to apply it to all aspects of your Catholic life including dress. We are , after all , supposed to love our neighbor as much or more than we love ourselves .

pax
 
Young_Thinker said:
I appreciate your response, but leggings, socks, and stockings are for when it is cold. We are not in the Orient, and, if we were, that is still not to say that trousers are attractive upon ladies.
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That’s easy to say if your a pants wearing male. Let me tell you walkink in the NYC canyons and having an ice cold breeze go up and around your skirt-with or without socks is not my idea of a good time. as far as the orient goes adaptation of clothing and culture is all part of being a human on planet earth.Pants were put on men for the practical reason of horse riding.Or should we go back to the time when men who were real men wore long robes? This is all an artificial construct-modesty and what it means shifts and changes with time, place, and culture.It is not exactly set in concrete or stone. read some fashion history .it is very enlightening.
 
juliamajor said:
That’s easy to say if your a pants wearing male. Let me tell you walkink in the NYC canyons and having an ice cold breeze go up and around your skirt-with or without socks is not my idea of a good time. as far as the orient goes adaptation of clothing and culture is all part of being a human on planet earth.Pants were put on men for the practical reason of horse riding.Or should we go back to the time when men who were real men wore long robes? This is all an artificial construct-modesty and what it means shifts and changes with time, place, and culture.It is not exactly set in concrete or stone. read some fashion history .it is very enlightening.
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Thank you. I do know a little about history and geography of fashion, and I, for one, think people in general do not dress well nowadays. Let a lady wear a habit when riding but, please, not trousers in an everyday situation.
 
Young_Thinker said:
Thank you. I do know a little about history and geography of fashion, and I, for one, think people in general do not dress well nowadays. Let a lady wear a habit when riding but, please, not trousers in an everyday situation.
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Why not -they are practical ,especially when you do a lot of bending and physical work. Dresses and skirts get caught .Besides they can be very attractive. There is nothing wrong religious wise, practical wise , or femininity wise with pants.
 
juliamajor said:
Why not -they are practical ,especially when you do a lot of bending and physical work. Dresses and skirts get caught .Besides they can be very attractive. There is nothing wrong religious wise, practical wise , or femininity wise with pants.
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Thank you, but I still have to disagree.
 
Maybe dress choice is somewhat influenced by geography. I live the in the Northwest. We are pretty casual out here. I rarely see women with their head covered at mass.There is one woman that I can think of that wears hats that match her suits. She also comes with nothing on her head at times, so I don’t think it is a modesty issue. Never do I see a manitilla or chapel cap. I have not covered my head since I was a kid in the 60’s. Most of the women in my church wear slacks most of the time. Usually I wear slacks or a longer skirt. During weekday mass I am usually in jeans. The same can be said for any of my kid’s churches or churches that we have visited while on vacation. I never wear heels anymore because of a very painful back condition.

I still have mantillas and chapel veils and I took them with me when we visited a Marionite church (my daughter in law’s RCIA class was attending together) last year just in case that was the custom. I brought one for my daughter in-law as well. It appeared to not be required there either, so they remained in my purse.
 
MikkiD said:
Maybe dress choice is somewhat influenced by geography. I live the in the Northwest. We are pretty casual out here. I rarely see women with their head covered at mass.There is one woman that I can think of that wears hats that match her suits. She also comes with nothing on her head at times, so I don’t think it is a modesty issue. Never do I see a manitilla or chapel cap. I have not covered my head since I was a kid in the 60’s. Most of the women in my church wear slacks most of the time. Usually I wear slacks or a longer skirt. During weekday mass I am usually in jeans. The same can be said for any of my kid’s churches or churches that we have visited while on vacation. I never wear heels anymore because of a very painful back condition.

I still have mantillas and chapel veils and I took them with me when we visited a Marionite church (my daughter in law’s RCIA class was attending together) last year just in case that was the custom. I brought one for my daughter in-law as well. It appeared to not be required there either, so they remained in my purse.
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I apologize about your physical condition. Anyway, what you have said infers a great relaxation of standards of dress, which I believe is highly unwarranted. It is sad, really.
 
I’ve noticed that women in many places today and in the past somehow if they want to wear dresses manage to wear them just fine in situations where others find them impractical. 🙂
 
MikkiD said:
Maybe dress choice is somewhat influenced by geography. I live the in the Northwest. We are pretty casual out here. I rarely see women with their head covered at mass.There is one woman that I can think of that wears hats that match her suits. She also comes with nothing on her head at times, so I don’t think it is a modesty issue. Never do I see a manitilla or chapel cap. /snip
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First off, this is a very interesting topic. I read every post. I don’t know what God thinks, but I would imagine he’s more concerned with the state of your soul and what’s in your heart than the state of your clothes and what’s on your body. It’s other people that are concerned about your clothes.

I quoted the person above because that’s mainly been my experience too. I live outside of Washington DC and what you said is pretty much how I see people dress for Church. I see a lot in jeans as well. My mom lives in another Parish and they dress this way too. I sometimes see shorts in the summer as well. It was the same when I lived in other areas of the country too (North Carolina, Missouri, Delaware, and California). I think the women in North Carolina were more inclined to wear dresses and skirts though IIR (but since there were a lot of college student there, there was a mix of clothes styles).

That said, I think if you want to be the most modest… it’s best to blend in to the culture around you if you can (in some cases you can’t–such as the case of the lady who is a nurse and comes to Mass in scrubs. I’d say in those cases to remember that fashion comes after God–make sure you can get to Mass first even if that means your clothes might not blend in)…

Anyway, if blending in means wearing a dress, then wear a dress or skirt. If it means wearing pants or business-type clothes, then do that. If you go counter to the culture, you are going to stand out and divert attention of people (male or female) to you and away from God. And yes I think that means if you go to a Church where the norm is wearing jeans and tee-shirts or khakis at best, then walking in, in a long dress with a hat or other head covering you are just as much of a distraction as someone walking in to Church (where the Parishioners dress more traditionally) in cut off shorts and a baseball cap. The clothes are different, the effect is the same.

If acceptable Church fashion did not change as general style/fashion changed, we’d all be dressed a lot differently at Church (and even below the knee dresses would be immodest).
 
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