by Witness 007 61 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I've seen a few Sisters™ of East Indian heritage wearing the traditional pantsuit and tunic outfit at all meetings.
That's true. When they wear them (shalwars), it's "ethnic". When we wear them, it's the garbof a man .... and therefore not allowed.
Its seems that no one picked up on the scripture which was as I recall for the reason why pants on a woman were not allowed.
"No garb of an able-bodied man should be put upon a woman,neither should an able-bodied man wear the mantle of a woman; for anyone doing these things is something destestable to Jehovah your God." Deut 22:5 NWT
"A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this." Deut 22:5 NIV
i never got the no pants rule either. i was always told it was a respect issue...showing respect whilst in Gods house. now, if sisters started wearing suit pants it would invariably lead to a more casual style of dress and they were fearful that everyone would start wearing jeans.
I have two hypotheses on the matter:
1) This "rule" is in place because none of the men making the rules ever has to wear things like dresses, skirts, and pantyhose and does not know how it feels to wear stuff like that in various situations where it is very uncomfortable. For example, the wife tells me that summer time is definitely not a good time to wear hose. And wintertime is much more comfortable with pants.
And the argument about men having to wear suit jackets in the summer is not valid because a lot of congregations will make an exception on hot days that the men don't have to wear them. There are no exceptions to the dress/skirt rule for women, however.
I have only seen one exception to a sister wearing a dress/skirt to the TMS/School meeting. She had to work close to the meeting time and had to wear a uniform, so there was an exception made for her special case, except for when she had a part on the school. Then she would have to dress appropriately. She wasn't considered very good association by many for this and other reasons, however. That is sad.
2) The witnesses work for a publishing company. And most publishing companies have dress codes for their sales staff and their office staff, don't they? Gotta keep up that corporate image, ya know.
A ridiculous rule. I remember one young sister getting councelled for wearing 'culottes' (don't know if I've spelt that right). Elders said they were trousers,
She said it was a skirt.
I hasten to add the young sister didn't stick around in the org!
Shell
This was a Watchtower flip-flop; allowing pantsuits for sisters at Kingdom Hall meetings in the summer of '75 and later in the same year reversing the policy. It not a dramatic a change as organ transplants or blood fractions but it illustrates the micro-control the GB has always had on JW lives. I guess the current posters are just too young to recall this historical change.
I was born in 1975. So I don't think I am qualified to comment on this......but, I will anyway. Wasn't 1975 the start of Armageddon and the 1000 Year Reign? (That should be a band name.) So the rules were loosened that summer, because they knew the end was going to go down in a few months. That's my theory.
"No garb of an able-bodied man should be put upon a woman,neither should an able-bodied man wear the mantle of a woman; for anyone doing these things is something destestable to Jehovah your God." Deut 22:5 NWT
"A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this." Deut 22:5 NIV
Ok, so who defines in each culture which clothes are men's and which are women's? Women's pants resemble mens, but their cut and style are very different. Therefore, pants by themselves do not belong to one gender. (Btw, women wearing men's clothes looks a lot hotter than vice versa, I have to say.)
My wife and I have nearly the same waist measurements, but not the same length, but anyway, long story short, she put away laundry one time and managed accidentally to put a pair of her black dress pants in with mine. I was hurrying to get ready for a meeting and put on her pair. The length wasn't the first thing I noticed; it was the way the hip line curved that got my attention. Oy vey, something is wrong here, I thought, and then finally noticed what I'd done. Ha.
I flat out refused to wear pantyhose (especially in the summer ). Hated wearing skirts in the winter, sitting in the kingdumb hall freezing my @$$ off...
I remember one sister who used to wear leggings under her long skirt and boots, was the subject of gossip amongst the self-righteous group because of this. She was dying of cancer, she was so frail and thin, what else was she supposed to do?
This is even worse when going out in service in winter. In the south, it makes little difference (though the pantyhose are useless or worse when it is hot and muggy). But, when it is freezing cold or below, the sisters should be allowed to wear pants under the skirt, or just dress pants (with thermal underwear under it) to keep comfortable.
But something tells me that they are not going to allow that. And, soon they are likely to declare warm-up breaks a waste of time and ban them (coffee breaks, too). If they are cold, too bad. Let them get frostbite. They can still run around with severe frostbite, if they are willing to disregard the pain (and, for sure, if they love Jehovah Tyrant enough they would). I am hoping enough of them decide that, when it is 40 below and they are not allowed to dress in pants, they decide enough is enough and walk out on them and never come back.
This is one unwritten rule that I never understood.
I wonder if it is so the elders can see occasional accidental beavage?
JK
