- Jonathan Green on My Mansplaining About Modesty: “I think it’s a mistake to treat modesty as one concept, when we use it to mean several different things. Being humble and avoiding self-promotion is one thing that goes by the name of “modesty,” and there are various norms for it. And avoiding clothing styles that are coded for sexual forwardness is another concept that goes by the same name. Neither of these are peculiar LDS usages – they’re all in the dictionary, unfortunately under the same heading. So we argue about what modesty really is, when it’s really multiple things that are mostly unrelated.” Apr 24, 20:30
- on My Mansplaining About Modesty: “@Gregg Sharp: I noted in the post that modesty isn’t all about sexuality, but some of it is, and at times (less now I think, but more in the past) it’s clear that many fashions are designed or at least influenced by the heterosexual male gaze. It’s hard to think of a counterpart for men’s fashion cowtowing to the high-sociosexuality, heterosexual female gaze (maybe tight jeans?). Men just don’t go to black tie balls with slits up our pant leg or our low-cut shirts showing off our lower traps, so just the way society and fashion is structured the actual use cases of modesty are going to be dealing disproportionately with female attire. I don’t make the rules, but that’s just kind of the on-the-ground reality.” Apr 24, 14:07
- on My Mansplaining About Modesty: “The real question I have is why is all (or at least the vast majority of) the “modesty” instruction geared towards women?” Apr 24, 13:39
- on My Mansplaining About Modesty: “rkt, Was that (1) protecting her husband; or (2) unrighteous dominion? I tend towards (2). I understand the magazine cannot make everyone happy.” Apr 24, 13:09
- on My Mansplaining About Modesty: “When I was an editor at the Ensign, we received an angry letter from a woman who found one of our photos too risqué. It was a photo of a youngish woman in a not-too-tight sweater. This letter-writer claimed that she had to go through the magazine every month and black out several photos with a magic marker before she would allow her husband to read it. We wondered if she ever let him walk down the street or go to a grocery store without putting blinders on him. Obviously, modesty is in the eye of the beholder, but there are certainly extreme views. I have to wonder where they really originate.” Apr 24, 11:17
- on My Mansplaining About Modesty: “I’m my years teaching youth and adult classes in the church, I’ve found a valuable starting point in modesty discussions is to ask “explain modesty outside the context of clothing.” The discussion will eventually include clothing, of course, but it’s helpful to define and discuss the principle in other contexts first. For instance, why is it improper for a better team to run up the score on an inferior? Is it improper to drive an expensive car to church meetings in an impoverished area?” Apr 24, 09:58
- on The Going-Back-On-The-Mission Dream: “Served 2 missions now. I’m really old. Never had a dream about either mission. I’m very impressed with the number of you who remember these weird dreams. ROFL with Mark, ” In one tracting dream, I met a gorilla making cricket noises and a talking dog wearing blue underwear.”” Apr 21, 03:09
- on The Going-Back-On-The-Mission Dream: “Love this–post and comments. btw, Never had any of the dream scenarios mentioned, or at least recall having them.” Apr 20, 16:07
- on How Often Do Members Pray?: “I am not aware of a commandment to pray twice a day, morning and night. I know some church leaders have encouraged such, and maybe even taught it as a commandment, but I’m with Wizard. General conference encouragements and admonitions should not be interpreted and enforced as commandments from God.” Apr 20, 01:49