For six years I attended a Christian school with a dress code that required girls to wear skirts no shorter than just above the top of the knee. Girls were allowed to wear slacks to after-school events, but were not allowed to wear shorts. Most visitors to the school honored the dress code as well. There is nothing wrong with voluntarily paying respect to another person or group’s idea of what is appropriate. It does make me wonder, though, what it would take for performers in this country to start showing more respect for the beliefs and ideals of Christian, Jewish and other religions. Leaving aside the religious or cultural aspect even, I wonder what it would take for some of today’s entertainers to listen to moms who don’t want their daughters emulating singers performing in what look like bedazzled undies. Would a protest, or maybe even a boycott, do the trick, or are threats of violence the only thing that gets results?
In the rare instance when individuals today commit violence in the name of Christianity, as some of the abortion clinic bombers in the United States have done, you will hear most Christian groups loudly renounce that violence. Denunciations of violence committed in the name of Islam, whether it be bombings or beheadings of people who refuse to conform to sharia, are generally more scarce and less loud.
I have no quarrel with Gwen Stefani, or anyone else, who makes the decision to dress more modestly out of respect for another’s culture or religion. In the case of an entertainer like Stefani who has many young female fans looking up to them, it can actually be a very good thing. I just wish that it did not take a protest from a Muslim group in a foreign country to make it happen. There are plenty of moms that I hear from on a regular basis right here in America who would like to see a whole lot less of the women their daughters idolize.