LDS women urged to wear pants to protest gender inequality

I meant to say in my last post, " finer, more pure elements" instead of saying " finer, more elements." Please pardon my typos.

Havn't these rebellious women ever read the Journal of Discourses ( 1st edition ) at all? Brigham Young stated that we are a spirit race and that the females of our race are made of finer, more elements than the males of our spirit race and the only way equality can exist between males and females is if man is at the head. This creates equality. If man is not at the head, things are not balanced and the female would be the male's better; so much for equality. We read in scripture that all are "created" equal, this is true, but the choices we make will either maintain that equality or unbalance things. Some will rise to all occasions and others will not. When women acknowledges man at her head, then that relationship with the man in her life is equal ( all other things being equal.) When a woman does not acknowledge her husband as her head, she declares she wants to be his better, not his equal! If a man who is recognized as the head does not act correctly, that is his fault, but do not pass judgement on God ( that would be dangerous ground!)

I love this,, When my mom reached about 80 she began wearing nice pants to church, she has arthritis and it was too hard to put on all the added regalia. She is 95 now in a rest home and all of the ladies wear pants. No one says anything. I spent a lot of time during the 70's in the south, a lot of women wore their hats to meetings. In Kenya the clothing is different than it is in Helsinki. I have to smile and love these ladies. Why all the fuss? Go ahead and wear pants! I will still love you, and it will still make me smile.

I was feeling all worked up about this stupid protest. Then the news about the shooting in Connecticut came in and I just thought, "Oh my gosh, 27 people just lost their lives and these feminists are worried about wearing pants to church on Sunday??" Really puts it into perspective.

Ok, I guess to understand what All Enlisted is doing, one must understand some basic tenets of feminism, but to preface, first and foremost: No one is saying the doctrines are wrong--at least from my perspective. This protest isn't about doctrine, it's about CULTURE. These are two very different things. As for feminism, when you take a look at it, there are two approaches: a gender roles and a gender structure approach. Gender structure looks at the inherent causes in our society as a whole. For example, we live in a Capitalist Patriarchy (this is very much a Marxist term, forgive me, those who are right-winged). Because of the industrialism movement in the early 1990's, men were encouraged to leave the home and women were encouraged to be the homemakers. This has continued, although in society we now see a switch. However when we look to the Mormon church, the changes aren't so prevalent in the culture. A gender roles approach looks at how from a young age children are cast into certain roles through things taught to them in the home, formal education, etc. It's nothing explicit, but it's the little things that make it up. In Mormonism, it's the non-doctrinal things like wearing skirts instead of pants. Feminism as a whole is an attempt to alter these two ways gender is structured in societies. It's not saying we are exactly the same in gender but it's saying that in non-doctrinal aspects women should be allowed the same opportunities. One women in another article stated, "I feel unequal when men handle 100% of the church finances". It's little things like that that are just so inherent in our culture and our doctrine that All Enlisted is trying to change. It's not an issue with faith or testimony. It's an issue with what happens when our ancestors and us now love our gospel and our dedicated to it. It's not unnatural. It's not wrong. it just needs analyzed, addressed and changed where needed.

It makes me sad that some women feel that you have to be the same to be equal. What a dull world it would be if we were all the same. Personally I am proud to be a women and not so ashamed of my femininity that I need to wear trousers to cover it up. I would not shun or critize any women who came to church in trousers but then I wouldn't turn up for lunch at Buckingham Palace in my jeans - there is after all a certain reverence due to royalty. If I am attending Church on a Sunday I want to show my respect and reverence for the Lord and my gratitude for all that he has given me (including my gender which has enabled me to give birth to 4 wonderful children)and part of the way I do that is by the way I dress. I don't think wearing trousers to Church will get me any closer to my maker which is why I go in the first place.

I suppose I am just old fashioned. I choose not to wear pants at all, except in very specific situations. I still wear a dress, skirt suit, or skirt and top to the office each. When I attend synagogue, I will will a dress or skirt suit. This is how I was raised, I am a baby boomer. I don't feel less equal because I wear dresses and skirts. Maybe I dress as I do because I am also a widow, and I found that men enjoy seeing a well dressed lady. I tend to think our society has become way too casual. We no longer show respect for anything. If you have the opportunity to be in a courtroom i.e. traffic court look and see how people dress for court. They wear torn jeans, sneakers, tee shirts, and baseball caps which they don't remove. People who are casual may not act as professional as those who dress professionally. It is true, you dress well, you act differently. I dress as I choose, so should other women, but with this caveat....dress in nice clothes, look correct for the venue.

Some of these comments are utterly ridiculous. Men is skirts would be fine if commonly worn. Should you be made to feel judged or uncomfortable if you didn't wear a kilt to the ward on Sunday? I think women should wear what they are most comfortable with. For me that would be nice dress pants. I loathe skirts and dresses. I see nothing disrespectful about that. However, I also think labeling this as a move for equality is about as silly and useful as posting the color of your bra on Facebook in support of curing breast cancer.

I'm wearing a skirt this sunday, see how that goes in Elder's Quorum

...as for me, my "Sunday Best" will be a skirt....because it's my choice.