Monday, January 26, 2015

Leggings on ladies!

The leggy lady, I mean the one who wrote about her decision to not wear leggings because she does not want to be a source of impure or carnal thoughts in any one other than her husband? I like her already!!
But you know what the deal is? A woman wearing leggings can elicit a wide variety of reactions from not just men,but women too. Something along the lines  of, " what was she thinking?" , to, " wow!!"
My point is,the reaction depends more on the wearer, than the looker! Which apparently is her point too- or is it not?
Leggings are super convenient- they just slide on, no zippers and clasps and belts and.....They don't catch when you sit down and try to get up, if you stuff your face,they conveniently stretch themselves to accommodate your expanded girth, they are a breeze to wear, airy, light, they come in a multitude of colors and patterns, and they are versatile when it comes to what you wear them with - shirts,blouses,casual tee shirts,tank tops,under mini skirts,under not so mini skirts......the list goes on. And most importantly,they fit women of all sizes and shapes short,thin,fat,tall,pudgy,apple,pear,peach......
Which brings me to that spectrum of reactions they elicit - put a pair of leggings on a thin woman and it loses it's appeal. And put it on a pudgy one and again,the appeal is gone. A good pair of legs on a woman of any shape can carry off  leggings with ease, but it is almost like the stars need to align for the the woman to elicit desire in a man while wearing a pair of leggings!
I am short and pudgy( read fat),but think I have a reasonably decent pair of legs , and love wearing leggings- and I am sure I do not create unease in any male other than maybe the thought that I'm too fat for it?
So any random woman wearing any random pair of leggings and creating impure thoughts in a man?
Very long shot!! If that were true,we'd be having a bunch of randy guys running around assaulting
women left right and center! But no,the world seems to be a relatively sane  place where women in
tights seem to be able to go on with their lives without fear of them tights being ripped off by men who want to ravish them because they are too darn attractive !! I mean the women,not the tights!! See my point?
I am sure every woman takes atleast one little peek at the mirror before walking out the door everyday and if that peek tells her that she should wear something else,I am sure she walks back in and changes - which probably accounts for women being late to everything, everywhere!
By the same token,if every woman is supposed to check if her attire passes some arbitrary bunch of standards about its effect on the general public,then we probably would never get out the house. How do we say," Okay! These are all the reactions I do not want from anyone ". For that matter is there a a specific set of reactions that are ok,and a set of reactions that are not? Who gets to decide? And why restrict ourselves to just leggings?
Way back when I was in college doing my engineering, all the girls had to wear traditional sarees, a six yard piece of cloth,wound just so around your waist,with a matching blouse that went form fitting over your bosom and ended somewhere above your rib age,with a vast expanse of your midriff exposed. How much of your midriff is exposed depends on how much you want exposed. I remember friends of mine here asking me how my husband reacts to me wearing sarees  because it drapes around a feminine figure in a such a way that it elicits..........you get my point!
At the end of the day,a woman should be free to wear she thinks appropriate. There are obviously going to be outliers who will decide they want a reaction,positive or negative and wear something that would give them that,but constantly having to second guess our choice in attire based on its effect on the world at large is a tall order for any woman.
While I do not suggest modesty is over rated,I think that this idea is somewhat like fat shaming! I take so much care to see that I do not cause anyone to sin,and you don't! With so much on our plates already,I don't think that women need this added responsibility of keeping men from sinning! What responsibility do men have in this anyway? Oh,another amusing thing- watching ballet where men in tights prance around is extremely annoying and I watched 'Swan Lake' once and couldn't sit through it- is that good or bad?
And if how others react to our clothing becomes a yardstick for how we dress,we will ultimately end up wearing.....shrouds? Makes sense?
I, for one, do not want to stand in front of my closet everyday trying to pick a reaction to elicit or avoid in the few hundred people whom I might cross paths with that day. I just want to wear what I feel like wearing and get on with life. Wouldnt it be hilarious if every woman decided on the same reaction one fine day, say, disgust? Out comes baggy sweats and dull colors and........oh,what will become of the world?!

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