Several weeks ago, my family made a trip to the Colonial Park Mall for the 50% off sale at the Bon Ton (Love that store). As my husband and I sat on a bench waiting for our daughter, we noticed something different about the girls that walked by. Many of them were wearing extremely short skirts and high heels. The heels were so high that the girls had trouble walking in them and the skirts were so short that I would call them "crotch level" skirts. I wouldn't want to witness any of those girls having to bend over and pick up something they dropped. It couldn't have been done without a flash of underwear.
A week later my husband and I went to church and we noticed something different there too. Did someone declare September as being short skirt month? I had never seen so many girls in short skirts at church. Girls are becoming more daring with what they wear. We concluded that after our trip to the mall. But I didn't expect to see it in church. Do I really want to bring my husband to a leg parade when I go to church? Isn't church the one place where we shouldn't have to see such things? Even my husband was offended by it and he's a guy.
I was once a short skirt girl, so I understand what these girls are trying to do. They're trying to draw attention to themselves. I wore a short skirt to the beach years ago when I was vacationing with my mom and sister. We had our photo taken on the boardwalk and that photo is now my Facebook photo. But I did some cropping before I posted it. Little did I know that when my account changed to the timeline layout the photo appeared uncropped. I just recently figured out how to delete it.
Some people might say, Well if you wore short skirts, then what right do you have to speak against it. Actually, I think that I have more of a right because I experienced the downfalls of making bad wardrobe choices. Short skirts did nothing for me but attract men of lesser character. They also stripped me of my dignity by making me an object to look at. I didn't make friends easily when I wore short skirts, especially when I went to places where women might bring their husbands and boyfriends. Those women knew I was trying to be the center of attention and they decided right then and there that they didn't like me.
Modesty promotes friendship with other women, but it also makes a girl look respectable, like the kind of girl that a good decent man would be attracted to. Surprisingly, good guys really don't want to see girls with cleavage out and legs on display. Consider this comment from a good guy: "You have no idea how sweet and challenging it is when I see a woman who has decided not to flaunt her body like the culture shouts for her to do."
When I think back to my younger days when I dressed without modesty, I regret my decisions. I believe that my choice of clothing brought negative consequences. Men saw me as someone to abuse rather than as someone to respect. My wardrobe was an open invitation for them to see me not as a person, but as an object. I suffered because of the way I presented myself. And I believe every girl who dresses to attract attention will live to regret her decisions.
Christian women should be especially sensitive to their wardrobe choices. What we wear sends a clear message and the message is either "Look at me, praise me or look at my savior and praise Him."
Women should dress with modesty first out of respect for God who teaches in Proverbs that "A beautiful woman lacking discretion and modesty is like a fine gold ring in a pig's snout." Secondly they should dress modestly out of respect for themselves, which is something I lacked in my twenties. And a third reason, which they often don't consider, is they should dress modestly out of respect for other women.
Women don't need their husbands and boyfriends to be constantly subjected to a display of cleavage, midriff and legs. If a man chooses to go to a strip show that's one thing, but he shouldn't have to see one when he comes to church or when he takes his daughter to the mall. He shouldn't have to see one when girls come to visit the family at his home. Women and girls need to get back to guidelines for how they dress. And I know exactly how they can do it. When they stand in front of the mirror before they walk out the door they can ask themselves this one question. Who am I wearing this for and why?
http://www.girlsgonewise.com/what-not-to-wear/
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