Aphorisms regarding skirts

General discussion of skirt and kilt-based fashion for men, and stuff that goes with skirts and kilts.
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Tazzmac
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Re: Aphorisms regarding skirts

Post by Tazzmac »

Who gives anyone and I do mean anyone (including governments or churches) the right to determine whether a body covering is legal or not . There was a time when I was proud to call myself catholic . I'm still Catholic and will remain so til I no longer exist but my church makes me angry in many ways . Other denominations just as much . The right 'under God' to dictate policy or rules that relate personally to yourself and don't adversely affect anyone else is JUST PLAIN WRONG in my book . Much more serious rules that do affect others and their existence is different maybe and any well ordered society needs such rules . Personal choice to what you wear so long as it's not done to deceive or defraud is a very personal thing and should be celebrated . Otherwise it's blatant discrimination . Isn't it ?
rode_kater
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Re: Aphorisms regarding skirts

Post by rode_kater »

Tazzmac wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 1:28 am Who gives anyone and I do mean anyone (including governments or churches) the right to determine whether a body covering is legal or not .
Well, government's role in this case as merely the evolution of when in small villages, if you didn't abide by social norms, the result was being ostracised. To prevent vigilante justice, the idea was to turn over enforcement to the leaders. We've come a long way since then.

The problem is more subtle now. It's not that churches and other institution are allowed to determine dress code, it's that the government is forbidding them from enforcing the dress code they want. You have a conflict between "freedom of expression" (the right to express yourself, including by clothing) and the right to, within a club/group/area, to determine rules you must abide by.

For example, (here anyway) it's perfectly legal to wander around in public in your swimsuit, if a bit unusual. However, the moment you enter someone else's space, say a shop, are they allowed to add restrictions? If you go to a kids birthday party at someone's home, do they have the right to bar you if you come in a swimsuit (and that's not expected)? IMO clearly yes. Maybe that shouldn't be allowed in school either. But once you start saying some restrictions are ok, where does it end? That's the conflict and the resolution isn't really obvious.

Here (NL) we have the concept of public/private space. A shop may be privately owned, but during opening hours it's a public space and so there are restrictions on what dress codes can be applied. Schools the same. We don't have compulsory school uniforms here, so I have no idea under what right they think they can enforce that. So on the one side you have private institutions that want to restrict your choice and the government that trying to protect your choice. I get the feeling in parts of the US the government aren't trying to protect your rights in this area.
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