Women Part 2: Pants

If men knew how glorious wearing a dress was--they'd understand why men wore togas and skirts for thousands of years before buttoning on their trousers.

As an evolved woman, I have embraced the glorious "dress". I can spin in a circle! I can make it long, or pull it up short for convenient air conditioning. And when I gain or lose weight--the skirt still fits!

As many of you have heard, this Sunday LDS women have an opportunity to support feminism by wearing pants.

Argh. There are a million feelings tied in with this.

I am a lucky woman. I was raised by a strong feminist mother. My grandmother has been a widow for 50 years. My father and my step-father are both incredibly respectful of women, and if my mother or my step-mother ever felt they weren't respected, open dialogue was encouraged. And things changed. In the same light, I was taught to love and respect men.

As a single woman, I have never experienced unrighteous dominion at church or in my home.

I have never been judged by my peers for wearing pants to church, because I love to wear dresses.

I have never been judged for working instead of staying home with my kids, because I don't have kids.

These issues aren't personal to me. And so there is a temptation to dismiss them or to say that they don't exist.

In my ward, the bishopric and their wives sit on the stand--demonstrating that men and women serve together as leaders. I see equality in the church. I see women and men leading committees, saying prayers, teaching men and women, and I feel heard.

But I know that it is not that way everywhere.

I had no intention of wearing pants on Sunday because I don't feel like there's a problem in my limited experience. And I believe in the priesthood authority. I believe that there is a reason why men are called to lead and to serve. It isn't easy to explain--but I love how the priesthood allows men to live up to their potential as sons of God. And as a woman in the church, I feel empowered. My grandmother and my mother both serve in the temple and exercise their power in sacred ordinances. I believe that women have far more spiritual power than they allow themselves to have. As a feminist--I want to encourage my sisters to live up to the power that God and the Gospel gives them and not to be afraid of it or to lie about their nature saying, "I'm just a girl."

But then I read some horrible comments on the events page. And I felt this horrible feeling that I was abandoning my friends and my sisters who were not as fortunate.

Things are not perfect. As a church, we become better at respecting ourselves and one another.  I believe that what we can be is not where we are. And this has NOTHING to do with church policy, and everything to do with how we view one another.

So--because technically the church does not frown on wearing pants--
And because I want my sisters to know that I too believe we can be better and we should be better--
And because I believe by wearing pants I am not going AGAINST my leaders--but rather SUPPORTING them in their efforts to convey that respect for one another is a part of the Lord's will--
And because I believe that support for gender equality DOES NOT have to mean just identifying with those who want women to receive the priesthood--
I choose to wear pants on Sunday.

Worst case scenario--the women who planned the event wanted to use this as a platform to promote giving women more priesthood responsibility and to protest against the church leadership. 

I will participate for my own reasons, and perhaps you will participate for your own reasons. And those who wish to jump to the worst case scenario conclusions about this will be left to wonder where we stand--and perhaps it will open up conversations and help us to actually identify and confirm those things that we want to encourage and change in ourselves, our families and our congregations.