Sitting at the airport last week, I noticed a woman about my age sitting on the ledge of the window overlooking the tarmac.  Aside from the fact that she was sitting there, looking at her phone and aggressively picking her nose (I’m not kidding), she was wearing a dress that came just to her knees.  The knees that were apart as though she was wearing a pair of shorts instead of a skirt.  I get that we’ve become a rather casual society, but ladies, if we’re going to wear a dress or skirt we’ve got to keep our knees together.

I noticed this when I visited a fast food restaurant last week as well.  A group of well groomed, young adults were sitting on stools at a high table, the two women in short skirts, again, with the knees apart.  It’s not that I’m looking for this kind of thing, really, it just hits you in the face.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching The Crown recently where ladies are sure to cross their ankles to keep their knees together.  It’s not only customary, it’s required within that circle.  Unlike Sharon Stone with the infamous crossing and uncrossing of the legs at the knee in Basic Instinct, crossing at the ankles is more “lady-like” and much less revealing.  If we don’t want to do this, we need to wear pants or long skirts.

Now, you would think that dresses would be a cool alternative to shorts during the summer, but not necessarily, especially if we choose to keep the knees together.  The sweat between the thighs and the chaffing that can occur are more uncomfortable than you might imagine. TMI?  I totally understand why women want to sit with the knees apart, especially those of us who could stand to lose a little weight, but not everyone needs to catch a glimpse of this.  And honestly, sitting in a chair with my ankles crossed can get uncomfortable as well and I find myself shifting from one side to another.  I get it.  It’s why I tend to choose pants for many occasions anymore.  I love board meetings and the like when I know there are going to be tablecloths over the tables and it doesn’t matter how I sit because nobody can see anything.  There’s nothing more uncomfortable than sitting in a meeting for several hours having to be concerned about how I’m sitting.

And have you ever tried to get in and out of a vehicle with a short skirt on?  It’s not so bad when you just fall back into the seat of a sedan, but when a short person like me has to hike herself up into an SUV, or climb into the 3rd row of a large vehicle, it can get pretty dicey.  Now, if I were a twenty something with great legs, maybe not so bad, but unfortunately for everyone who may be looking, whether they want to or not, the legs are just not the same as they used to be.

This is something I have to teach my girls in choir all the time.  A lot of them choose to dress up for concerts which most times consists of short dresses and skirts.  They sit on the risers waiting for their turn to sing, facing the audience.  Unless I have a mom who thinks ahead and maybe gets their daughter to wear shorts underneath, the audience can get a show before the show.  Now, I raised three boys so this wasn’t an issue, but seriously ladies, we need to work together to teach our girls how to have some decorum.

So, am I being old fashioned or close minded?  Am I giving in to the archaic notion that we don’t want women to be a temptation to men and so we need to be more demure?  Maybe.  But I prefer to think that women seem to have lost that self respect in terms of looking their best and giving a good first impressions. After all, I CAN be intelligent, prepared, lead AND look my best.  After all, I think you can tell what my impression was of the lady in the airport….

Look, I’m a jeans, t-shirt and flip-flop kind of girl and if I could just do everything in those, I would.  Unfortunately in my line of work and in my pursuit of other outside ventures, it is important that I look professional and if I chose to wear a skirt or dress, then I also need to behave professionally.

I believe in equality for men and women and that women certainly shouldn’t be judged only by what they wear, but let’s face it – the reality is that there are differences between men and women.  We all have our burdens as evidenced by the men I went to Capitol Hill with who had to wear suits in 95 degree weather.  But certain attire is expected and they don’t take you seriously on the Hill if you don’t dress the part.  I mean, I actually remembered to wear close toed shoes this year.  Life can be brutal, right?

All I’m trying to say here is that while I agree society is changing somewhat, there are still some things that need to be maintained. And if dresses and skirts are still a thing that we choose to wear, we need to make the decision to keep our knees together! Please!