Skirting the Issue

Posted by AGroup in Just me on Friday, January 08, 2010 10:00 AM

UPDATE: The number of comments on this post has made it difficult to follow the discussion and reply to specific comments. I am closing comments here, but please feel free to continue the discussion of this topic in this new post.

Ladies, I’m very, very cold.

Yesterday morning it was 18° outside. This morning was an only slightly more bearable 24°.

I know. You heroic pioneer women up north are laughing at me. Laugh away but know that as you laugh I sit here suffering!

It’s not supposed to be this cold in the South! My body doesn’t know what to do with these freezing temperatures!

Oh, and I own no pants.

I don’t know how it happened that I came to own no pants. All I know is that a couple of days ago I set out to find a pair in an attempt to ward off frostbite, and there were none to be found. None!

Apparently I only wear skirts now which is funny because until a few years ago I wore pants almost exclusively. Something changed after I had my first daughter, though. It may have been coincidental but soon after her birth I felt God calling me to wear more skirts and dresses. I wasn’t entirely sure why but his wish is my command (though I am notoriously poor at carrying out his orders).

In answer to this prompting from God, I began to frequent thrift stores in search of cute vintage-style dresses. Slowly my pants were relegated to the garage as I found myself actually preferring my new frocks to my comfortable old wardrobe. I hadn’t realized I’d transitioned to dressing exclusively in skirts until Jack Frost launched his merciless attack on my calves, though.

I’m always second guessing myself when it comes to nudges from the Holy Spirit. Did God really just tell me to do that, I’ll wonder? Maybe I made it up. In this case though, the fruits have been so sweet that I feel nearly certain this encouragement to embrace dresses did in fact come from above.

Skirts make me feel womanly and maternal. In their own special way they remind me to be gentle. They also help me dress modestly and they flatter my particular figure. As silly as it sounds, perhaps God recognized that I had certain personality traits that could only be corrected with a good dress.

I’m not anti-women-in-pants, though I know there are individuals who feel dresses should be the preferred garment for women. Having a special place in my heart for fashion and modesty, I’m intrigued.

How do you feel about women wearing pants? Do you think skirts are inherently better than pants? How strongly do you feel about the subject? Do you think it’s an issue of modesty? Femininity? Both? What have been the fruits of your wearing skirts exclusively?

I know this is a hot-button topic, girls. I hope you don’t mind my bringing it up. I do think discussing these things is important. We live in a culture where androgyny is celebrated and traditional gender roles are laughed at. As such, I think taking a moment to examine our position on even things that may seem frivolous, such as fashion, is a worthy pursuit.

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