Interesting post by Dr. Mohler on the increasing prevalence of boys wearing skirts in America’s high schools.
Here’s a snippet:
“The controversy over boys wearing skirts to school is a symptom of our loss of sexual sanity and the will to preserve any reasonable and healthy understanding of gender. These teenagers are telling us something important — we are losing our sexual sanity.
For Christians, the issue is a matter of biblical concern. The Bible reveals a concern for respecting and honoring gender as God’s gift. In the Old Testament, the Law taught respect for these distinctions and roles. In the New Testament, we find similar expectations. As the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11: 7-15:
For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.
While addressed to the specific concerns of a church setting, this text also generalizes the point by making a specific reference to what nature teaches concerning the recognition of the difference between males and females. The Creator is honored and glorified when men and boys dress and present themselves as males and when women and girls dress and present themselves as females. Culture by culture and generation by generation the specific form of this distinction may change, but the point remains.
God made human beings to show His glory, and an essential part of that glory is the visible difference between males and females that is reflected even in the public presentation of dress. We should be able to tell the difference between a boy and a girl by the way they dress and present themselves in public.”
I agree with Dr. Mohler that boys wearing skirts is disturbing. But is it really a Biblical issue? Or is it more of a touchy cultural issue? I’m genuinely curious as to what you think. I believe it can be a Biblical issue, but I’m not sure the way Dr. Mohler framed this is convincing.
Here’s some food for thought and discussion:
- Dr. Mohler equates dress with gender identity and tries to make a biblical case for it by quoting a Paul’s discourse on headship, which talks about hair and does not mention dress specifically. My first question is should we start having women wear head coverings, so as to be careful not to blur gender lines? Secondly, should we start telling men that long hair is an abomination and shaming girls who have short hair? There may be a compelling case for Dr. Mohler’s arguments in scripture, but I’m not convinced this is it. What do you think?
- Women now wear pants, and it is commonly accepted. Don’t remember when I’ve seen Dr. Mohler write a blog about the abomination of women wearing pants. Is this a double standard?
- Clothing styles have changed throughout history. How can we even begin to start explaining what is a masculine and feminine style of dress in a biblical context? Isn’t that more of a cultural question? And is it right to syncretize the two?
- Is it our clothes that create our gender identity or the way in which we interact? It seems Paul is more concerned with how men and women interact than their style of dress. What do you think?
To be fair, Dr. Mohler says, “The Creator is honored and glorified when men and boys dress and present themselves as males and when women and girls dress and present themselves as females. Culture by culture and generation by generation the specific form of this distinction may change, but the point remains.” But he doesn’t seem to really believe this by the tone of his post. After all, couldn’t boys wearing skirts simply be the “specific form of distinction” changing. He says “the point remains,” but is the point the way we dress, or the way we act?
Flame away.
I’m inclined to think that the church hyper sexualizes a lot of things, a teenager wearing a skirt is a decent example.
Our culture is not somehow the penultimate example of what makes a man, a man and a woman, a woman. So just because our culture says that guys don’t normally wear skirts it doesn’t mean than you dishonor God by doing so.
What about kilts? Those were sportswear, that’s pretty masculine.
To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve got the legs for such fashion.
I agree that you don’t have the legs for a skirt.
While it may be true that the church hypersexualizes things, don’t you think that is because we live in a hypersexualized culture that lends itself to striking hard against that culture?
Where do you begin to draw the line on what is accommodating culture and what is clearly unbiblical?
It seems to me that the motivations of the heart behind such dress is more important than the clothing itself.
All I know is that if I was to wear a skirt or heck a wedding gown you would still know that I am a man. And I would still act like a man, there are attributes that are inherent in boy’s and girl’s that have nothing to do with how you dress. Now I have to research this guy, but he sounds like a nut.
He’s not a nut.
He’s the President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He’s a good guy, but I think he missed it a little on this one.
The question we should really be asking, and that I think Dr. Mohler would have done better by addressing, is exactly what you bring up, Mark: Are these teenage boys still exhibiting masculinity or are they blurring the gender lines in their conduct?
I’d bet the answer is yes they are blurring gender lines in conduct, and in that sense it’s very much a Biblical issue.
I find it interesting that in Dr. Mohler’s response about the New York Times article he spends a good deal of time talking or alluding too aesthetics. He makes mention of boys wearing skinny jeans and girls wearing tuxedos that leads me to believe that, even though this has serious implications, he is responding with an opinion. Trying to frame his personal aesthetic preference with the Bible, and if we are honest I bet he would have something to say about how you or I dress. If we can separate ourselves from the aesthetics of the situation and focus on the reason or the heart of the individual for doing so, we can then see what the biblical and social implications are. We unfortunately have created a society that does not affirm or allow boys and men to be what God made them, so lets first teach the Gospel creating Godly men who are men, and then we can attack the aesthetics.
And you are correct he is not a nut.
I’d say by no means are the dresses themselves unbiblical but rather the acts of sin that may often accompany them, which Scripture clearly spells out. Cultural norms come and go, but God’s definition of sin is unchanging.
Amen, Craig. Agreed.