skirting the issue

So apparently there has been a lot of brouhaha on the interwebs about women wearing skirts/dresses to church. Apparently there’s even some sort of protest scheduled for this Sunday.  I am glad to see that I am not the only one who thinks this is completely ridiculous. I am so bothered with people who need to make everything into a political statement—especially things like this where it’s OBVIOUS they are so insecure about something they have resorted to grasping at straws for something to take issue with. 

There are many reasons I love and am so thankful for my mother, but one of the biggest is that she taught me to love and accept EVERYONE. I remember one Sunday morning-I could only have been 5 or 6, and we were on our way to church. I remember seeing one of the less-active families headed that way too, and I noticed the little girl was wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I asked my mom why she wasn’t in a dress, and she replied, “it doesn’t matter to Heavenly Father what you wear to church. It matters more to Him that you’re there.” Twenty-six years later and that lesson has still held true for me.

For me women wearing dresses to church isn’t a sign of submissiveness, but rather respect. Respect because you wear the nicest things you own when you go to worship. Dresses are the nicest thing I own, so that’s what I wear. Not because I feel I am being oppressed and unequal to my male counterparts. It makes me sad that there are women in the church who feel this way. Men and women in the church have their own roles to play, they are both divine and necessary in their own right, and I have never once felt that one was more important than the other. It is only when both are working in harmony that everything works as it should. If anything I have felt more honored by the men in the Church because I am a woman. Men and women will never be ‘equal’ because they are not the same, and it is infuriating to me that some women will choose to use something as sacred as personal worship to propel their own political agenda fueled by their own insecurity.

Now if a woman chooses to wear pants to church because that is what she is most comfortable in? I say more power to her. If you are so pre-occupied about how uncomfortable you are in what you’re wearing that you lose sight of the real reason you’re there, then you’re better off not going in my opinion. Do I think less of women who choose to wear pants? Nope. I’m just glad they’re there.

I just wish people would stop. Stop wanting what others have. Stop the hatred, and anger, and discord. Stop trying to be something they aren’t and instead revel in what they ARE. I am a divine daughter of my Heavenly Father, and I know that He holds women in the highest regard. I am trusted with bearing and raising His children. One day I can be a QUEEN. That is pretty cool and not the least bit oppressive in my opinion. Because we’re different we have been given different responsibilities-neither is more important than the other, and that’s just fine by me.

People may think I’m brain-washed or a Stepford wife for saying this. I assure you this isn’t the case. I merely have never felt oppressed or wronged by my role as a woman in the Church and I am HAPPY with the role I have been given. So, I will be wearing a dress to church this Sunday. Not because I feel I HAVE to, but because I WANT to. I hope what you wear to worship is what you WANT to be in and it allows you to feel close to your Heavenly Father and His spirit (or whatever you believe in). Because that’s all that matters.

Even fashion-forward girl power Carrie wore a dress to church...just sayin'.