Unveiled

There is an issue that has had me peering over the edge of the mountain, and a couple of weeks ago I read something that threw my right off the cliff.

I’ll tread carefully so that I do not too harshly judge a religion beloved by millions, once beloved by me, or paint too clear of a picture of practices that are extremely sacred to some. With that thought, let me say this:

I don’t think God likes women very well.

The God I was raised with authored the many policies and rules that governed my life growing up. Those same rules shaped me into a very specific person. I was female, I was always guilt ridden, and now I think I am finally beginning to understand why.

In the most sacred place to me, in the single most beautiful building I had ever set foot in, the sanctuary I believed to be nearest to God, I faced shame. There is no other way to put it.

The sisters in the room will please veil their faces.

In order for a sacred rite of worship to proceed, the voice of God demanded that anyone female cover her face with a thin veil. The veil was required to remain in place during the rite, only to be lifted once the sacred practice was over.

This rite, this practice, was supposed to bring me closer to my God than anything I could undertake on my own. But my face had to be covered.

Because I am a woman.

I used to proudly tell others of the respect and honor paid to women in my religion. Looking back, I realize a lot of it was a lot of honoring the honoring, or lip service paid to the lip service. Because when I stack it all up now, it doesn’t add up to so much respect.

Now I think, why would a prophet of God feel the need to counsel the millions of women within the sound of his voice to wear only a single pair of earrings?

Women all over the world are raped, beaten, abandoned and otherwise mistreated, and that day the message God himself needed to get out through his official spokesman was something like this:

We--the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve--have taken the position, and I quote, that "the Church discourages tattoos. It also discourages the piercing of the body for other than medical purposes, although it takes no position on the minimal piercing of the ears by women for one pair of earrings."

There were other things said that night as well, but time and time again I have heard the same basic counsel regurgitated over and over. Whether by satellite broadcast or across the pulpit, the message is the same.

Women, girls, cover your bodies.

Why is religion so consumed with counseling women what to wear? Do a quick rundown of the topics taught to young women and then again to young men. About how many times are the young men warned to wear clothes that are chaste so as not to entice the young women?

Yeah, about that many times.

But as Young Women we heard it constantly. We heard it as adult women as well.

"Keep your dress modest. Short skirts are not pleasing to the Lord, but modesty is. Girls, do not be an enticement for your downfall because of your immodest and tight-fitting clothes.” Ezra Taft Benson

"Since the sanctity of the body is so related to the sanctity of sex, why make the body so common? Why expose to the public eye this sacred thing which is the temple of God? I tell you, girls, when you expose your bodies, whether on the dance floor, or otherwise, you do yourselves a great injustice, and you likewise do your boy friend an injury. I wish you girls could sit behind the curtain sometimes when we have private interviews with boys, and these boys really express themselves, man to man, about how they feel concerning modesty of dress. I have talked to many of these boys. Some of them have told me that their moral downfall began with a girl's immodest dress. They were tempted, right on the dance floor, just by what they could see, just by what was not properly covered up." Elder Mark E. Petersen

"It seems abundantly clear that to follow the extreme fashions of this day is to give credence to the efforts of some who would topple mankind from the pedestal on which we are placed in the divine plan of the Creator. The woman who is too scantily dressed, or immodestly dressed, ofttimes is the portrayal of one who is thus trying to draw the attention of the opposite sex when her natural adornments do not, in her opinion, suffice. Heaven help any woman so minded for drawing such attention.” Harold B. Lee

As a woman in the church it was necessary to remind me if I wore pants, I should not enter the Chapel. Denim was not acceptable material to wear traveling to the temple. Shorts and pants are never acceptable to attend a weekly meeting.

Public statements are made all the time by stake and ward leadership warning the adult women in the church how to dress appropriately.

I knew women who bore the burdens of life on their backs, who had buried children and husbands and worked and toiled until the life was all but sucked out of them.

And yet their representatives of god found it necessary to chastise them over the state of their attire.

Absurd.

Further absurd is the responsibility placed upon the shoulders of young women. In these statements describing the wretched state of a female who dresses inappropriately, I have yet to hear recrimination for the male mind who allows the enticement to foster impure thoughts. The responsibility is heaped upon the female.

Some even go so far as to teach the girls that they are responsible for the mission worthiness of the male population in the ward.

Articles of Faith are taught to the children in Primary, starting at a very young age. We all learned them. Remember number two? We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.

Apparently this only covers the men, because in the temple women are placed under the counsel of their husbands because of Eve’s sin.

It angers me to tears now to think that the leadership of the church that purports to raise the level of women up so high could tear them down with such archaic concern over dress standards. Further infuriating is the practice of placing blame on the girls for the bad thoughts young men think.

So, if a boy lusts after her, it’s her fault for wearing revealing clothing. After all, how far does it go? If you can see the outline of her hips, perhaps she should wear a shapeless potato sack.

If he is swayed by the thought of curves beneath her sweater, maybe long robes are necessary.

And what if the shape of her jaw inspires his lust? What then?

The sisters in the room will please veil their faces.

What does this teach our daughters to think of themselves? Where does the blame go when one of them finds herself abused by a man?

Who do you think she is going to blame?

Herself.

After all, that’s what she has been taught all of her life. Her actions are directly responsible for the choices of the men in her life.