Who Wears The Pants?

Feminism!

It’s early into the academic year of 1985. I am a second-year university student, and have been elected class rep for my sociology class. Our senior lecturer, Rosemary, invites me to her office to go over what the first departmental meeting will entail. Honoured to be elected as one of the few student representatives, I headed to her office, full of excitement and anticipation. Expecting to discuss course content and student response to courses offered, imagine my surprise when she opens with “What are you planning to wear tomorrow?”

Now, that was not what I was expecting! Confused, I stammer, that I assume just my usual attire. She shakes her head, and explains that won’t do. Still surprised, I ask her what she means. 

“Well, you wear skirts... most of them floral.”

Still very lost as to the relevance of this, I remained mute. So she continued.

“And in this day and age, especially in sociology, we are trying not to emphasize gender difference, so please wear trousers tomorrow.”

Now, I understood where this was going. She was the feminism specialist, and clearly I was an embarrassment.

“And don’t bother with the make-up either... perhaps tie your hair back. Is your hair naturally blonde? It is? Hmm... that’s a shame. And maybe plainer, flat shoes.”

Pleased with that conversation, she waved her hand in dismissal. I left her office dumb-founded, thinking through my appearance. It was like a light-bulb went on: what we wear and how we present ourselves externally sends out a message. It proclaims to the world a great deal about who we are: what we believe in, what our values are, and how much money we have or perhaps more accurately, how much money we choose to spend on our clothing and appearance.

The next day dawned warm and bright. Yes, I did attend that meeting. As I walked in, I looked around, and found Rosemary looking at me, her large, luminous eyes flashing like daggers at me... you guessed it, I had worn my prettiest, most bright and cheerful floral skirt, dainty slightly heeled sandals, my hair out - long with shiny blonde waves, and a dash of light pink lipstick and mascara. I smiled sweetly at her, as I held her gaze.

That is a true story.

It is from my own experience, and one of those memorable seminal moments in life. An “aha” moment, when each of us realises a fundamental truth about life.   And that day it was about appearance.

Until then, I had never really reflected on what I wore. I was aware I had simply continued dressing as I had been brought up: wearing fairly conservative classic styles that were feminine. Although my parents weren’t active Christians, they had both been brought up in church-attending families who were conservative, based on Biblical precepts. My father still quoted from Scripture, using its injunctions to shape his parenting and our childhood values, and practised huge integrity in his own life. He was easy to respect. 

Although I had been a bit of a tomboy in how I dressed around our farm, going out it was always a skirt or dress. I remember getting my first pair of jeans, and feeling very “mod”. They were certainly very practical, and it made peer acceptance from the “in” crowd at school much easier.

Aged 15 I joined our local village’s youth group. It corresponded with my own interest in the meaning of life. Typical teenage angst — wanting answers to life’s big questions. That led to me deciding to read the Bible front to back, as I thought all people who read the Bible did. I started to see various themes pop out. Although appearance wasn’t so much at the fore, gender difference was. 

To be honest, I had not heard the term ‘gender’ until I did sociology. It seemed to be a new term even then. But back when I first read through the Bible, I did observe there were clear differences between men and women, well beyond the obvious physical ones. 

One verse did embed itself into me: “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 22:5).

Strong words indeed, but ones that resonated with my upbringing.

Gender Distinctions are Important

Fast forward to the present day. A few months ago, we Fulcrum7 readers were blessed with an article that did include discussion about women’s clothing and appearance. One person posted a comment saying they would have preferred that topic came from a woman. So here is an article on that topic, from a woman.

In my two years studying sociology, I specialised in feminism, and ironically regarding that incident described above, later that year my studies included clothing and appearance. I was already an earnest Christian, so therefore filtered what I was learning through the lens of the Christianity.

Obviously this is a huge topic, and could cover several articles to do it justice. But in this day and age when our identity as women is not just challenged from perspectives like feminism but further pressured by the more recent addition of newer movements, like transgenderism, it does require coverage. Due to these pressures, and also the fact that Christianity is now almost a dirty word in the Western world, almost like never before, we need men to mentor other men, and we need women to mentor other women. But all Christians need to be clear and confident about how we ought to present ourselves to the world. Whether we like it or not, what we look like sends out a message - and not just about who we are, but by extension, about who God is.  

Remember the oft-repeated saying, “We may be the only Bible someone ever reads”. First impressions are often the only impressions. We are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). We are representing Him to the world. Each interaction with each person may be our one opportunity to sow seeds to that person. Therefore, we need to act with prudence and present ourselves consciously and conscientiously.

Femininity

As women, we need to be women. We need to act as women, and look like women. If we are struggling against that, we need to ask our Father in Heaven for His help. He promises to help us IF we ask Him (Matthew 7:7-8). But let us be clear, according to His Word, He expects us to look like the sex He made us: if we are female, we are to dress like a female.

One part of the argument covered in the earlier article was about what to wear. Some people mentioned trousers. Some said no; others said yes, if they were womanly pants, and modest.

Today I want to pick up on that one point, and address that. Maybe in later articles I could cover other important areas, such as hair, make-up, jewelery, and the style of our clothing, but today we will explore women in pants.

Quite rightly, one person posting made the relevant point that in some cultures around the world, men wear clothing like dresses, and women wear pants, such as in India, under the sari. So we have found our first point: dress will be culturally relevant. Each culture has gender-specific clothing, so go with that. Unless the culture has a history of some immodesty or nudity, go with whatever is considered tasteful and modest in that culture. We will focus in on Western culture, where trousers were always the preserve of men.

During our feminist studies, we learned that trousers and women only paired up in the late 19th century, as feminism grew. The first women to wear trousers were considered rebellious and flouting social convention, and drew the ire of men and women alike. No Bible-based Christian woman would have dreamed of wearing trousers. It is easy to understand why those early ‘first-wave’ feminists used clothing as one of their tools for their message: we can move more when in trousers. They went bicycle riding, which in itself was a new, daring venture. They could ride horses without going side-saddle. It all sent out a clear message of wanting and claiming the freedoms that men enjoyed.

In itself, trousers are an amoral object. So therefore, it is about the message they portray. The original message was freedom and equality and rebellion — it was about being a man. Having what a man had. Which conversely means not wanting what women had. By extension, no longer valuing what a woman had or could be.

Some of that was understandable. There were very real issues around alcohol misuse in those days, which led to the temperance movement, which feminism was associated with. Remember this was only shortly after women were no longer considered legal chattels of their husband. A different age, with many women in very vulnerable positions. None of us would argue with the need for legal protection for those women and the innocent children involved. However, as with many social justice issues, once the original problem is addressed, Satan seems to jump on the band-wagon, and get the wrong people involved, and just push that issue out further, to achieve his agenda.

Spirit of Prophecy addressed this issue in depth, stating

“Those who feel called out to join the movement in favor of woman's rights and the so-called dress reform might as well sever all connection with the third angel's message. The spirit which attends the one cannot be in harmony with the other...The Scriptures are plain upon the relations and rights of men and women... The foregoing was given me as a reproof to those who are inclined to adopt a style of dress resembling that worn by men...” (1T 456)

World War One followed, with women in many countries having to pick up the work men left behind. Often it was physical work, such as farm work. Very quickly women started to shorten their hems, simplify their clothing, and even wear the men’s actual trousers. Again, we can partly understand all of this. As the old adage says, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” 

The Roaring Twenties followed, with the usual behaviour associated with relief after an extended period of warfare, with young people rearing up, loosened morals, and loud music, silent movies, and dancing - all accompanied by short hair for women, red lipstick thanks to Coco Chanel, and silhouetted sheath dresses ending just below the knee. Pants were now made into a fashion item for women, and became part of the wardrobe for the young and adventurous.

Fast forward to my childhood in the 1970s, post-Flower Power In rural conservative New Zealand, my mother very rarely wore pants, and never trousers. Pants were purely for cold wintery days, on the farm. Going out clothing was always dresses or skirts. That was just how it was. Dad (and the Bible) made it very clear women ought to be like women, and not look like men. I thought that was all very funny and quaint.

However, by the time I had my daughter in the mid-1990s, and she got into her pre-school years, trying to dress a daughter to look pure and modest had become quite a challenge. Small girls were almost always in pants or even worse, footless figure-hugging tights under a top. Thanks to Madonna et al, tops were often sparkly, showing midriffs, looking like something that belonged to a person a decade or two older, at a night-club. Thankfully, one shopping company did cater for families who wanted their girls to look like who they were - little girls.

Although many Christians think to wear or not to wear trousers is an eye-rolling irrelevance, I beg to ever so slightly disagree. Many people say “It’s not a salvational issue.” But just as Spirit of Prophecy speaks often about our bodies being a temple of the Holy Spirit regarding our physical health, I believe how we present that temple is relevant. Beyond being an ambassador for Christ, how we dress and present ourselves does impact how we feel and how we see ourselves.

Wearing a dress or skirt, I do feel more feminine and more ‘formal’ (for want of a better word!). I do feel like I am a better ambassador for Christ. I refuse to equate wearing dresses and skirts with dowdiness - there is no need to look like some sort of fashion advertisement for clothing that was rejected three decades ago! Even Spirit of Prophecy speaks clearly on this:

“Oddity and carelessness in dress have been considered a special virtue by some. Such take a course which destroys their influence over unbelievers. They disgust those whom they might benefit.” (1T 275)

Wearing skirts and dresses has not hindered most physical activities. Obviously some activities do require pants, such as skiing. But most can be done with a skirt, especially with the stretchy fabrics we have now for sports-style skirts. Around home or out to work, skirts and dresses are just as easy to choose each morning as trousers. The challenge today is finding decent skirts and dresses. Most womens-wear shops here sell pants and trousers, of all varieties, lengths, and styles, but not many dresses or skirts. Learning to sew is a very real and wise option: I suspect wearing modest, decent clothing is an issue that is going to get worse, not better.

Gender Neutral Clothing

The final point I will close on is the present move in clothing towards gender-neutral clothing. Guess what that comprises of? Not just pants and trousers for girls, but dresses and skirts for boys. That is already coming in for school uniforms over here. One view of the Celine Dion video about gender-neutral childrens-wear totally shocked me: where to next?

If ever we needed more proof that we need to consciously present our gender as God created us, it is today. As Seventh-Day Adventist Christians, we are called to be a peculiar people. Well, I have good news to finish on: if we choose to be true to our calling, and dress as the women God proudly made us, we will be clear ambassadors for Him. So let’s dress for success, and claim our feminine roles with delight, and leave the pants for the men!

 "I saw that God's order has been reversed, and His special directions disregarded... I was referred to Deuteronomy 22:5... There is an increasing tendency to have women in their dress and appearance as near like the other sex as possible, and to fashion their dress very much like that of men, but God pronounces it abomination.” (1T 456)

 

Sharyn Dunn writes from Dunedin, New Zealand. “Kiwi Girl” is a member of one of the world’s most southern Seventh-day Adventist Churches, and enjoys time with her children, reading Spirit of Prophecy, and improving each batch of bread.