Image by Lululemon. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia CommonsAt the beginning of January, Veronica Partridge, a Christian woman, wrote a blog post telling women everywhere why she was going to stop wearing yoga pants and leggings in public. According to her, because such pants are tight and revealing, they cause men to commit the sin of lust. They cant help looking at women in these pants in ways they should only ever look at their wives. Women, of course, have a responsibility to dress in such a way that men dont lust after them.
The post touched off bit of a firestorm , because this speaks directly to rape cultures idea that a mans lustful thoughts and urges are a womans fault. One article, written in response, shines an outstandingly bright light on the double standard that exists here.
This woman, who goes by the initials L.P. on her post, talks about how men in suits are extremely distracting to her . Her main complaint is that lusting after men in sharply tailored suits has been a struggle for her for years, especially since shes trying so hard to keep her mind and thoughts pure and Christlike.
One particularly salient paragraph, which explains the whole problem with the Christian woman preaching about not wearing leggings and yoga pants in public, is this:
Dont these men have any self respect? Do they even understand how their clothing affects me? I wonder what is going through mens heads when they decide to dress this way. All I know is that when a man wears a nice suit with pants that are juuuust tight enough, I will notice.
Then she goes on to say:
Therefore I am issuing a plea to my brothers in Christ for an understanding of where Im coming from. When you choose to exist in public looking well-groomed and sharp, you are basically extending an invitation for me to lust after you.
L.P. beautifully illustrates the double standard. Veronica, for her part, quite correctly points out that men are more visually stimulated than women. However, many women find men dressed in certain ways to be extremely stimulating and distracting as well. Saying that its a womans responsibility to police the thoughts of men, but not putting that same onus on men to police the thoughts of women, is the double standard.
Its the same as telling girls in a school what clothes they are and are not allowed to wear for the sole purpose of not being a distraction to the boys and male teachers there. Because, of course,the problem is never those who cant control their thoughts enough to not be distracted in the first place. Men are slaves to their base instincts, and women must bear the blame for that (sarcasm intended).
L.P.s entire post is an absolutely epic response to Veronicas article, which merely reinforces rape cultures idea that women are mostly responsible for the thoughts and actions of the men around them. If a man checks her out, its her fault. If he touches her inappropriately, its her fault. If he rapes her, its her fault. What was she wearing? What did she say? What did she do? Was she drinking or doing drugs? How did she contribute to what happened? And its absolutely shameful when a woman supports these ideas. Kudos to L.P. for her outstanding post.
Ridiculous!!
(what the Christian woman said is ridiculous, I should have been more clear))
LOLOLOL, classic response to an idiot.
I love it!!