First I would just like to say that President Samuelson is amazing. The courage and strength it must have taken him to get up and point out such a serious and touchy issue is incredible. But I would like to add onto what he said with a few things. One being that he missed one very crucial point of the modesty issue. It's an epidemic that is a pestilence among the guys: respect. Men, do you really respect women or do you just view them as a prize? I walk around campus daily with my girlfriend and see the way many guys look at her and other girls. There is no hint of respect or reverence in your eyes, only lust. How do you justify this in your minds? Doesn't the Book of Mormon say you will be judged even upon your thoughts? What's worse is that more often than not, it leaks out of thoughts and into words. When girls aren't around, suddenly a group of guys, who seem to be righteous, respectable men of God, morph before my eyes into pigs. How can this be? How can you be at peace of mind when you have said such perverted and abominable things? How can you have posters of immodestly clad women sprinkled about your bedroom and then not believe you fall into the category of 'pornography viewers.' How can you expect women to respect themselves, to dress modestly and view themselves as the divine daughters of Heavenly Father that they are, if you don't even respect them as more than something for your pleasure? Watch your thoughts and your words and your deeds, because you will be judged for them.
There are many of you men out there who are righteous and do not entertain the thoughts and perversities which I have just mentioned, but are you boldly declaring righteousness unto those whom you know are? The time is past when we can quietly let sin go on around us; we are no longer timid, innocent boys. We are men who hold the priesthood of God, if we do not stand up for what is right, if we do not live what is right, we will be held accountable for it at the judgment bar. I beg you, men of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to take a long look at yourselves and determine whom you are serving with your thoughts, words and deeds. Do you make girls feel uncomfortable as you walk past them because of your lingering gaze? Do you subtly encourage immodesty with the signals you send? Do you let your eyes wander to places that you have no right to even glance at? Do you entertain thoughts that the Adversary has planted in your mind? Do you refer to women as 'hunnies' and treat them as though they are only there for your temporal pleasure and entertainment? Do you have immodest women on your walls? Do you flippantly make jokes about pornography and masturbation as though they weren't the serious plagues they are? Does your language include words that would make your mother blush?
Men of the Church of God, I am raising a call to you to stand up and become the righteous princes in our Heavenly Father's kingdom that the wonderful women of the church deserve.
Brian Matteson
Ann Arbor, MI