Recently, my mother was visiting from New York City. She was surprised that the girls were allowed to dress as immodestly as they were. She was troubled by the tightness of the girls tops as well as the their midriffs showing. She was not as surprised after shopping at the BYU bookstore for some new casual shirts. She came away feeling that most of the population would have to lose weight before some of them could fit modestly. Somehow she just didn't see how the standards of BYU coincided with the standards taught by the church.
It is not just my mother's opinion that troubles me, it's the comments made by my guy friends who wished the girls dressed a little more modestly. One graduate recently commented that he has never seen so many tight and revealing clothes on BYU campus.
Just out of the blue today, four people remarked to me about how the standards of dress at BYU was slipping. There was less and less of a difference between BYU and the standard of the world.
So why do we as women at BYU wear such tight and revealing clothing? Are we so lacking in confidence that we allow the fashion industry to dictate what we should wear or are we unwilling to set our standard of modesty in our dress higher than what the world dictates?
How can we expect a boy to be attracted to our brains, wit and charm when we are standing there dressed in a manner that makes it just a little bit more difficult for him to keep his mind where he would like it to be?
Christine Petersen
Tuckahoe, N.Y.