Christian blogger Veronica Partridge recently posted ?online about her decision to no longer wear leggings or yoga pants in public.
The reason is she believes the pieces cause wrong and lustful thoughts from men.
While there are certain situations when ?wearing leggings is not appropriate, we cannot say women who are ?wearing them are ?intentionally drawing the male gaze.
We need to stop placing the responsibility of men’s lustful decisions solely on women. Leggings are ?comfortable and functional.
I choose to wear them with longer shirts and ?sweaters because they keep my legs warm.
I put them on knowing as I run around campus I won’t have to continuously pull at them to keep them up like I would with jeans.
I have never put on a pair of leggings and thought, “Now these will make guys want to have sex with me.”
Partridge is correct when saying yoga pants are thin and form-fitting.
However, that is exactly what makes them ?functional.
When working out, yoga pants keep my lower body cool and free to move easily.
If I were to wear thick sweatpants, they would ?restrict my body movements, decreasing the ?quality of my workout.
Partridge’s issue with this clothing is that it fit women’s figures so well.
It is true leggings and yoga pants do flatter women’s ?bodies in a way that is ?attractive.
There is no good reason to tell women wearing ?clothing that is flattering is wrong.
In fact, it is Partridge’s reason for avoiding wearing these pieces in public that is wrong.
She is basically ?sending the message that ?women who are sexually ?assaulted — or worse — are ?responsible for the assault.
Partridge decided not to wear leggings or yoga pants because her husband told her it was difficult to not look at other women who were wearing them.
Partridge avoids holding her husband accountable for his own lustful thoughts and places the blame on women.
This is a wrong and ?outdated way to handle this situation.
We need to make men responsible for their own thoughts and actions.
If a woman’s clothing makes a man want to have sex with her, then that’s the man’s responsibility.
We cannot continue to tell women they need to ?constantly adjust their ?movements, words, actions and clothing in order to ?divert the male gaze.
If leggings are not sexually attracting a man, then something else would.
It is a man’s responsibility to rightfully handle his sexual thoughts and actions.
A woman’s clothing should not be responsible.
eshrack@indiana.edu
