While enjoying my lunch, I've been reading a few articles linked to fark.com, one of my favorite Web sites. As I was reading, I had a "Huh?" moment. I have a lot of those moments reading so-called news today, but this one more than usual.
I found this article about Mormon women. At first, it looked pretty interesting - I kind of like reading about the history of certain fashions, particularly those related to certain religions. And much of the first part of the article was interesting. They had an anthropologist there talking about the style of dress, what it meant, etc. In other words - someone to provide objective information about why these women choose to wear what they wear. However, toward the end of the article, Hollywood and New York fashion "experts" (what I usually think of as style commentators) started chiming in with their opinions.
While I agree, the dress these women wear is not the most flattering, it seems like these people are exposed to enough criticism as it is. What covers their butts is the last thing that needs worrying about.
A truly pointless post? Perhaps. But as I've said, I've had a lot of those recently. I've also been reading a lot of "news" lately, so it's probably damaging if not eliminating brain cells. Which brings me to another thing I read recently. It was an article published in the New York Post about a woman who let her 9-year-old child find his way home on public transport in New York. The kid actually asked to do so, so the author of the article provided him with money for a phone call, a $20 bill, a map of the city and subway and a metro card.
Apparently, many parents were absolutely horrified that the kid was allowed to do this, despite the fact that he got home just fine and the mom had gone over the route with him before. Those horrified parents commented that what she had done was tantamount to child abuse. I'm of two minds about this one. I hardly think that allowing a mature 9-year-old child with plenty of on-hand resources find his way home is child abuse. And I can still remember walking the mile to and from school when I was six with my seven-year-old sister. It was no big deal and we walked along a (for our town) relatively busy street.
I'd like my son to be able to do the same thing, though perhaps not at the same age I did (perhaps between 8 and 10?). Still, it's hard to let go. I'm betting that the first time I let Ragsy walk to someone's house by himself I'll be sneaking after him in a trenchcoat with a GPS. Oh, well. Guess you gotta let 'em grow up sometime. I just thank god the time for us isn't right now.
2 comments:
Just to be clear, you're talking about specific groups of "mormon" women, such as the sect that was recently raided in Texas, right? Because the regular LDS church has many many many women who dress pretty much like everyone else in the US. The only rules I remember learning in terms of dress from my high school best friend (daughter of a Mormon bishop) was that when they went to temple, they had to wear skirts and head-to-toe white (no pink polka dot underwear or anything)--this was the special "temple" like the one on hwy 64...not their regular weekly church services.
I think most Mormon's cringe when they hear news stories like the recent set, because the rest of the world tend to lump all Mormons with the crazy few extremist groups who do newsworthy things. And, the media doesn't make a clear distinction (maybe some don't even know there is a difference), so it perpetuates the whole mess. Come to think of it, Muslims probably feel the same way.
Ok, apparently that hit a nerve. I hope my clarification isn't too harsh, because I can see your point about how ridiculous the discussion of their clothes is compared to the whole messed up family situation.
I'm going to stop typing now :)
Sorry for the lack of clarification - I was reading a very specific article when I wrote it about the recently-raided LDS church. I have many close friends from home who are Mormon and have never been under the impression that churches like the one in Texas are representative of all Mormons.
What I obviously failed to convey was that it screwed with my head a little that instead of focusing on things like what these people (meaning women & children in the Texas sect) are going through, the soundness of evidence, and the actual people in the situation, the media is focusing on judging their clothing and hairstyles. It's just bizarre to me that self-appointed style gurus that typically comment on Hollywood and runway style are commenting on these women and girls who clearly have other things to worry about.
When I first read the article, I was thinking, "Hmmm... That's interesting." By the time I got to the middle, I was thinking, "What the hell? Where's this going and why is it important?" Mostly because the first part of the article started with input from an anthropologist about when the particular dress for this sect was introduced, but the discussion deteriorated more or less as soon as these "fashion experts" came in and started calling their hairstyles outdated and ugly.
I mean, why they're wearing what they're wearing is probably just as meaningless and subjective judgments on how it looks, but it seemed like at least the former was informational whereas the latter was not only unproductive, but potentially hurtful as well, particularly when there were other better things to worry about.
But, to make a ridiculously long clarification even longer (this is why I don't usually watch TV and type at the same time), I realize that not all Mormons practice in the same way as the individuals in the Texas sect. Sorry if I didn't make that clearer.
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