Late last March, a letter calling for young women to boycott leggings went viral. According to the Oregonian, a Catholic mother of four sons visited the University of Notre Dame for Mass last fall and was surprised to see a group of women wearing leggings. Believing it to be inappropriate, she wrote an op-ed to protest.
"...You couldn't help but see those blackly naked rear ends. I didn't want to see them - but they were unavoidable. How much more difficult for young guys to ignore them," she said in the letter.
Look, I understand some people don't like the style, but at the end of the day, it's just a butt. Everyone has one. Someone could be wearing the thickest pair of winter pants you've ever seen and you would probably still see their butt.
The only reason this is a problem in the first place is because society has sexualized men and women's bodies for ages (but women are the predominant target). We say that chests, bottoms, hips, and more are inherently sexual and should be covered up and/or downplayed in public, but they're just body parts. Breasts are meant to feed babies, bottoms help our legs move in different ways, and hips are literally just how your bones happen to be naturally arranged. If it had never been sexualized, then you wouldn't be having this issue with someone else's body.
However, since we do live in a world where people are shamed for having bodies, I have another point to bring up. The mother also suggested that women "think of the mothers of sons the next time you go shopping and consider choosing jeans instead." OK... but why? Unless it's because those mothers were hyping you up to buy that one patterned pair of leggings that you've had your eyes on for a while, I don't want to hear it.
Women do not exist to be objects for others to gaze at. Women, as surprising as this is, are people too with their own thoughts, feelings, hopes, and ambitions. We don't have to smile for you, we don't have to act a certain way for you, and we sure as hell don't need to cover our bodies just because Random Ricky over there doesn't know it's rude to stare. Sometimes you have an 8 am and figure that you might as well feel comfortable if you have to be up that early.
