Yes, “TTan,” women should not be treated as equals because they might wear clothing that shows off their shoulders. Brilliant!
The above comment is in reference to a story about Wasatch High School, located in Heber, Utah. A controversy erupted this week after the Salt Lake Tribune reported that school administrators had yearbook photos edited for “modesty.” The school had multiple photos edited to cover-up shoulders, tattoos, and cleavage. In the schools defense, they did warn the students that edits of the photos could happen. However, the students report that they wore the same outfits during the year and were never sent home to change. If the outfits were fine during school then why would those same outfits need editing in a yearbook? Another problem the school has is that it seems like they randomly selected photos to edit. They did not uniformly edit the photos of all students deemed immodest. They did not uniformly edit the photos of all students. The school has garnered national attention, but they are not backing down in their decision in editing these yearbook photos.
Wasatch High School is only part of the story. The larger story has to deal with how society sexualizes women and shames them for their choices when men mostly get a free pass. As we can see from the above comment in that “boys are dressed more respectfully than girls most of the time,” there is still much work to be done in the realm of treating men and women as equals. To insist that men and women cannot be equals because women show a little shoulder is outrageous and patently false.
I did not know that men dress more respectfully than women? I've never seen a man in a tank-top revealing their shoulders. I've never seen a man flopping his genitals around when he wears sweatpants or gym shorts. I've never seen a man wear Speedo swimsuits, again, revealing the outline of their genitals. I've never seen a man wearing skinny jeans (or any tight jeans) that could reveal the outline of their package or their ass. I've never seen a man go topless at a beach (or anywhere out in public). Like women, men should never be topless because their bare chest will give women impure thoughts. Men are modest and women are not. That is why they cannot be equal. What world does “TTan,” or anyone else that believes the thesis that men are more modest, living in?
That fact is that many men believe that women need more modesty. In a poll of 1,600 Christian men, conducted by a Christian website, it was found that 95% of these men say that their future wife should display “modesty.” What is modesty to these men? The website “The Society Pages” breaks it down like this (these are actual survey responses):
Something that is immodest is something that is designed to arouse lust within me (male, age 24).
Something that is immodest is something that is unnaturally revealing (male, age 20).
Something immodest draws attention to a girl’s body (male, age 28).
Immodesty, according to this poll, is quite vaguely defined. But, it looks like anything could be considered immodest if it arouses “lust in me.” With that definition, I guess we all should be dressed in a big, black plastic bag, however, someone might find that lustful so that might not be a good idea. Any clothing, worn by men or women, can be deemed lustful.
To be perfectly honest, all human beings will check out other human beings, our eyes like to wander on others whom we deem attractive. We are all guilty of that. But, what separates us from the animals is that we have impulse control. I am a gay man and I have friends that are straight males. Some of my friends are quite attractive; however, they are my friends. I have no sexual desire for them. I don’t sit there and dream about them ripping off their clothes. Or I don’t sit there and get upset with them because their clothes are revealing at times. I don’t think of them as whores if they aren't wearing their shirts because that might “arouse lust within me.” My friends are my friends and I can clearly hang out with them without having sexual feelings for them.
Men and women should be treated as equals in society. Men and woman should dress how they want, but there should not be any hypocrisy. I am sure it has not occurred to many men, especially “TTan,” that men dress immodestly. But, they do. However, it’s not really discussed in society. The only time I've heard of men’s immodesty is when people discuss the guys that wear jeans below their butt and reveal their underwear. However, even that is discussed differently in society. I've never heard anyone suggest that these guys are “arousing lust” within women because their underwear is being reveled, the discussion about this clothing trend is built upon “having respect” for places of business or for the public. I also know that some would argue that this is why they believe women should dress modestly. I am sure some people feel that way, but don’t lose focus on the larger issue. That larger issue is that women are shamed more often than men because their “immodesty” is about inciting lust within men and not out of respect for society. When men dress immodestly, it’s disrespect. With women it’s all about sex and lust. That’s the difference and it is a difference that must be dealt with in our country.
It seems like our country’s maturity when it comes to women, women’s rights, and women’s clothing, is stuck at the elementary school level. We are like little kids that giggle if the word “erection” or “breasts” is used in a conversation. I say this because I see comment after comment saying that if a girl or a woman did not want to be raped or assaulted then they should have dressed more modestly. Our country’s mentality of “well they asked for it” by dressing a certain way reeks of immaturity. Women should be allowed to dress how they like without being labeled a “slut,” “whore,” or as being “easy.” Men aren't labeled that way when they are dressed immodestly. Women should not be labeled that way either.
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