Women wearing pants.

Men dressing women.

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Since most fashion designers seem to be male, one can get the idea that men dictate what women should wear. This may be true on some level, but wearing pants has clearly become a woman's choice and often times a preferential option. (Thanks to women like Coco Chanel.) Fundamentalist Christians and Mormons, as well as some traditionally minded Catholics, consider women wearing pants to be wrong, some claiming it an abomination to the Lord, citing Biblical texts, especially Deuteronomy 22:5, and other passages elsewhere. "A woman shall not wear an article of clothing proper to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's dress..." - Deuteronomy 22:5

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Anyway. It is very difficult to use this text as an objection for the way men and women dress today - except in the case of drag queens perhaps - but I'm not going there. In ancient times both men and women wore tunics. Proper dress for a woman was a veil or some sort of head covering, and maybe a little pomegranate juice on her lips, with a little oil/wax and lapis powder mixture for eye shadow, along with a soft charcoal eyeliner. Seriously, I think - not sure though - proper dress for a woman was just more modest than for a man - yet they both wore 'dresses'. (Men in tunics or kilts were actually the only ones to wear short skirts.)

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Much later - this is for Catholics - nuns and monks wore exactly the same habits - only the monks did not wear veils. That said, Eastern Orthodox priests sometimes do wear a veil - I know! Of course, Canon Law instructed women to cover their heads in church, but it is no longer binding - although, once again, some say it is. When it was binding, women wore anything from a piece of Kleenex to a scarf, to a mantilla, or more often in WASP country, a hat. Of course, Hassidic Jewish women must have their head covered as well, and many wear stylish wigs to do so. I digress.

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Catholic Fundamentalism?

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So, do some men dictate what a woman should wear? I knew a young lady whose fiancee asked her to start wearing a chapel veil to church, I only found this out because I saw her shopping for one. Teasing her about it she said to me, "I know, but he wants me to try it." After getting married, they are pretty traddy - although I am sure she still wears pants and jeans - not to Mass of course. Some trad guys permit their wives to wear pants in certain circumstances. Some trad women just do so - if they want to. I honestly can't believe this is still an issue with people - but it is.

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What piqued my attention to this topic was the following comment I found on another blog discussing the difficulties some people may experience getting used to the TLM (Extraordinary Form of Mass). Responding to the writer expressing such difficulties, a commenter answered:

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"I love that she" (the writer with the problem) "has put so much time into this. And, her reaction is perfectly normal.

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My wife and I years ago had that reaction at first, but we also couldn’t stomach going to the novus ordo so we kept going. And now we cannot fathom life without it.

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And these reactions won’t stop here.

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Once she’s going regularly, she’ll have people suggest she covers her head for Mass and she may reject it. And there will be people suggest she wears a dress or skirt and not pants and she’ll possibly reject that as well. But, slowly, she’ll come to see the beauty behind both practices and lovingly accept them and urge new ladies just like her to do the same.

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Then, years down the road, if she marries, the traditional ladies will urge her to not work as mothers shouldn’t outside the home, to reject contraception, etc." (Further on, in another comment, the writer suggests women who attend the Ordinary Form of Mass practice contraception, "Yet most who attend Mass outside a TLM are contracepting. No need to debate it—facts are facts.")

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He continues, "She may struggle with that as well but the TLM and all the graces it provides will help her through that if she has struggles." - Source

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Another commenter - I think I know who she is - responded to this husband's remarks saying: "Working outside the home? Sorry, but in this economy, your mileage may vary. If it’s simply a question of adopting a simpler lifestyle maybe, but I know plenty of traditional couples where the wife works some hours outside the home. It’s not a “career choice” so that they can spend lavishly, it’s by necessity. It all depends on what your attitudes are toward marriage, children and work. Obviously what kind of work matters too. And women wearing pants? Give me a break! There are practical as well as aesthetic reasons for people’s dress choices. As long as modesty prevails who cares? We aren’t Amish or old church Quakers."

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(Actually, Quakers are quite liberal and most have no problem with these issues.)

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Last week I posted a video from a 1950's television show, Mr. and Mrs. North. In that episode, Mrs. North was signing up for modeling classes - just to improve her posture, hair, make-up, and fashion sense. As she was signing the paperwork Mrs. North was asked, "Will your husband permit you to do this?" I laughed because few people would ever ask a woman of today such a thing, except maybe in a church basement, while she and the other women were serving coffee and donuts to the men. (Which is why I titled that particular post, "Brick by brick" - LOL.)

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All of that said - I see nothing wrong with women wearing pants - anywhere - ever. As I said earlier, I cannot even believe it is an issue in this day and age.

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Art: An early example of women wearing pants. Women wearing pants really came into its own in the 20th century, especially during WWII when it became more practical for them to do so.