wears trousers like a man: the female psyche, the relationship of woman with her husband, and the effect on the children. The first concern is that it changes woman’s own psychology. Indeed, if she dresses like a man, her motive can only be that of imitating and even of competing with man whom she considers to be stronger, less tied down and more independent. Dressing like a man becomes the visible aid to being like a man, and by the very fact, she becomes less a woman. Furthermore, when a woman wears trousers, she tends to act and be treated like a man, her gestures and way of walk are less feminine (women are shown to sit and walk differently in skirts and in trousers), and she tends to confuse the roles of men and women. This is one of the main reasons for which God gave this command in the Old Testament: A woman shall not be clothed with man’s apparel neither shall a man use woman’s apparel: for he that doeth these things is abominable before God (Deu 22:5). It is also the reason for which some say that trousers on a woman are worse than a miniskirt, because while the miniskirt has a more immediate sensual attraction due to the degree of bare flesh visible so close to the intimate part of the body, trousers are ideological and attack the mind. The miniskirt can be linked to an increase of overtly sensual dressing and a monumental drop in the standards of modesty, but it is still essentially feminine. The adoption of trousers for women were, however, driven by the radical women’s rights movement whose ideology and crusade rallied against the traditional female role in society as a mother and heavily encouraged the ‘equality/sameness’ of the sexes. This is at the crux of much of the social upheaval and war against woman and the family. The second concern is the way it changes her relationship with her husband. Indeed, if she dresses like man and wants to compete with man, then the principle man in her life (her husband) cannot help but sense – even if he does not express it to himself this way –that he is not doing his job well enough, and consequently this can vitiate the relationship between the sexes which God saw as a complementarity and not a competition. Cardinal Siri goes so far as to say that “a woman wearing men’s dress always more or less indicates her reacting to her femininity as though it were inferior (to masculinity) when in fact it is only diverse”. This insidious mentality has grave adverse effects on woman but also on man. Men by nature are meant to lead, and so if a man’s wife makes it clear that she wants to do the leading, the man, especially if he is less gifted than his wife, 76
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