Do These Leggings Make My Butt Look Naked?


Several days ago a Buzzfeed article was circulating throughout my Facebook newsfeed with the title "A Christian Blogger Stopped Wearing Yoga Pants for Her Husband so She Wouldn't "Entice" Men." 

Aside from the incredibly long, horrible title and the fact that it irks me that some people consider Buzzfeed to be a credible news source, this article really bothered me. Veronica Partridge, the subject of this article, explained that she was chatting with some friends about leggings and "...how when women wear them it creates a stronger attraction for a man to look at a woman's body..." thus increasing the amount of objectification they may feel. 

She then talked with her husband, who admitted that leggings make it more difficult for him not to stare at women. After these two chats, Partridge decided to only wear leggings at home and not in public so that she wouldn't cause anyone else to have impure thoughts.

My issue with this is not the decision itself, but the reasons behind it. Nobody should have to make decisions about their body to appease others, and they certainly shouldn't do it under the pretenses that other human beings are incapable of controlling themselves. 

You are human and thus have the power of self-control. You are able to make conscious decisions about how you act and react in public. Partridge, in her decision, is perpetuating the idea that my body is responsible for someone else's actions, and it is not. Men and women can control where their eyes fall, where they stay and where their minds wander. 

Your body is yours to do with what you wish. You can choose to dress it or not dress it. You can choose to cover it in tattoos and piercings, to fill it with glitter, to adapt it to become superhuman or to beat it up in roller derby. 

If Partridge decided to give up wearing leggings because they made her uncomfortable then I would have no issue with her choice. The part that bothers me is that people, primarily women, are still making clothing related and other personal decisions based on what others might do or think, and that is just mind boggling to me. Everyone should be able to wear whatever pants they want without worrying that a large population will begin to picture them in a sexualized manner. Isn't that just common decency? 

The solution? Maybe we should all just respect each other's rights and space. If you wouldn't want someone staring at you, picturing you naked and having sex with you, then maybe you shouldn't do that to others. If you wouldn't enjoy being whistled at, shouted at or harassed on the street, then maybe you shouldn't do that either. I can't fathom why it's 2015 and we're still having trouble with this. We're all fellow human beings, if you want to act like a dog drooling after a piece of meat because of some leggings, go to the pound.