Dr. Leonard Greenway, pastor of the Riverside Christian Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan is in charge of Our Question Box, This department is for everyone. Questions from all ages are welcome. No signatures are required and no names will be published.
I have received several letters asking me to comment on such matters as Modesty, Women‘s Dress in Public, Dating linbits, etc. I should like to reply to these letters, not singly, but with the following observations and comments which are designed to cover the various subjects in a general way.
Answer: As regards women‘s dress, let’s be sensible and acknowledge that various occasions and activities call for corresponding proprieties. W hat is appropriate for swimming is one thing, what is appropriate for a dinner date is quite something else. Girls playing ball should not be expected to wear their Sunday clothing, and on Sunday, particularly in God’s House, their garments should not remind one of an athletic contest or a hike by summer campers. It should not ‘be necessary to spell this all out in inches. There is such a thing as wholesome common sense, and certainly Christians are expected to have a good supply of it. The responsibility of Christian parents—and let me say especially mothers—in guiding and regulating immature children is perfectly obvious here.
Frankly, we have come a long way since that evening in May, 1933, when Marlene Dietrich was refused admittance to a Broadway theater because she was wearing men‘s clothing. Today a woman can be considered well-dressed in garments totally fashioned after men’s wear. The question might be asked here, Do we men belong to the superior sex? The women seem to think so. They try so hard to imitate us! What docs this do to girls and to their relationship with boys? The secret of a woman‘s power and influence has always been in her womanliness, not in her assumed masculinity. The modem girl who thinks she can best get ahead by stepping down from high ideals of womanhood is sadly mistaken. Why are so many young women afraid of their own distinctive· ness? Why do they think so little of self-respcct? The girl who gives her high favors to every man is held in high favor by none of them. Chivalry and courtesy are among the finest compliments that good men ever pay to good women. Why do so many girls today deny themselves these compliments? Why do they want to swindle themselves by trading modesty for recklessness, and womanliness for vagabondish sportiness?
When a girl undertakes to be the kind of creature she thinks men want her to be, let her remember that it makes a lot of difference what kind of men she has in mind.