Catholic mum writes letter begging girls to stop wearing leggings for the sake of her sons

Sigh.

A mum the US has gone viral for asking that all girls stop wearing leggings. The woman said that her four sons should be protected from seeing girls legs and 'backsides' (her words). "I’m just a Catholic mother of four sons with a problem that only girls can solve: leggings," she wrote in The Observer, a student newspaper at Notre Dame University in Indiana. She raised her concerns after seeing group of young women in "very snug-fitting leggings" while at mass on campus with her sons. Here are some highlights from the letter;

"Some of them truly looked as though the leggings had been painted on them. A world in which women continue to be depicted as “babes” by movies, video games, music videos, etc. makes it hard on Catholic mothers to teach their sons that women are someone’s daughters and sisters. That women should be viewed first as people — and all people should be considered with respect. "I was ashamed for the young women at Mass. I thought of all the other men around and behind us who couldn’t help but see their behinds. "My sons know better than to ogle a woman’s body — certainly when I’m around (and hopefully, also when I’m not). They didn’t stare, and they didn’t comment afterwards. But you couldn’t help but see those blackly naked rear ends. I didn’t want to see them — but they were unavoidable. How much more difficult for young guys to ignore them. "I’ve heard women say that they like leggings because they’re “comfortable.” So are pajamas. So is nakedness. And the human body is a beautiful thing. But we don’t go around naked because we respect ourselves — we want to be seen as a person, not a body. We don’t go naked because we respect the other people who must see us, whether they would or not. "Could you think of the mothers of sons the next time you go shopping and consider choosing jeans instead?"

Predictably, it caused a backlash, with university groups even organising a 'Leggings Pride Day'. The organisers stated that the mums' s "viewpoint perpetuates a narrative central to to rape culture in implying that women and girls are responsible for the actions and reactions of others." Fair.