And my inner feminist begins to come out...

I had the great joy to come to Sunday School in my home ward on the Law of Chastity lesson. A loaded topic to be sure, but it was going good until several people started talking about modesty. Apparently, if a young women dresses immodestly, she is causing the young men around her to sin.

Say what??

This kind of talk is dangerous and harmful to both men and women. First off, it portrays women as objects, as things that somehow force men to think bad things. It's the same rationale as when people say about a rape victim, "Oh, she was wearing a short skirt. She was just asking for it." How can you put responsibility for sin on the person who didn't commit the sin? Second of all, it depicts men as mindless and unable to control themselves. It's not fair to say that men are slaves to visual stimulation that they can't resist looking at things and having bad thoughts. 

Needless to say, I squirmed a little in my seat. I'm not saying that modesty isn't important and a good thing. But the motivation should not be that it prevents women from making men sin. Modesty is a personal matter. It's not what other people think about you and your body--it's how you feel and how you are presenting yourself. There's a distinction in my mind. Maybe wearing immodest clothing creates a temptation for people to look at them and have immoral thoughts, but that's not the same thing as making someone else sin.

I'm also really bothered when speakers talk about missionary work and say that the young men need to serve missions, and the young women need to "do their part" by encouraging the young men. Heaven forbid the young women should be encouraged to serve missions. We need so many more missionaries in the world right now--why not encourage more young women to go?

That reminds me of another thing that bothered me about the YW program, and Personal Progress in particular. While the Scouts are off camping, getting merit badges, and receiving awards that the rest of the world recognizes, the young women are learning how to be homemakers. Almost all the goals I remember having to do had to do with preparing myself for marriage. There was one (optional) experience that talked about careers and job-shadowing. One. 

While I know that women have certain divinely appointed roles, I don't believe that a woman's "place" is strictly in the home. Mothers can have successful careers. It doesn't mean sacrificing your family. Non-traditional families are becoming more common--fathers stay home with the kids and moms go work. I don't see what the problem is. The Gospel stresses the equality between men and women and how parents are equal partners with one another.

This is starting to turn into a rambly rant, so I'll just cut myself off. Peace and blessings, peace and blessings.
--the newly confessed feminist