I don't get why shoulders are considered something not to be revealed. I mean, eventually they do connect to boobs, which are sexy, but it is by way of the armpit, which is not particularly.

Seriously. Where did that particular taboo come from? I never even knew about this prohibition till I started reading on this site, then I started noticing the universe of capped sleeves in LDS crowds. Why?

I think for Mormons, modesty means that you wear clothing that would normally cover the Mormon garments,even if the clothing is worn by a gentile.

Bingo! In Utah, where many are guilt-ed in to wearing garments everywhere, the women can't stand anyone that doesn't comply. Especially those gentile sluts that don't have to play by the same rules. Their husbands may actually look, with desire, at those harlots, so it's important to make it a sin to bare shoulders. Every year, some prudish high school administrators get embarrassed, nationally, for denying kids entry to dances, sent home from school, or photoshop graduation pics because kids show their shoulders. There's a reason Footloose was filmed in Utah.

You mean that even non-Mormons have to cover their shoulders?

In the schools? Yes. They're dress codes seem to be based on the church standards. Women, especially attractive women, that wear shoulder (or worse) revealing clothes get the stink eye from the mormon house Frau's. My wife wears tank tops or sports bras while working in the yard on hot days. She gets a lot of nasty looks from most of our neighbors, but it's funny how many mormon guys stop by to ask a question, borrow a tool or just say hi when we're in the yard. Not so much if I'm out by myself.

It's a damn shame, too.

My wife has beautiful shoulders--caramel-colored, healthy, smooth, slender.... yum. But she insists on wearing the cursed garments. Only at the beach does she give the absurdity a rest.

[grumble]

"yum"

That's why. ;-)

Move to the beach! :)

Or move to that slippery slope!

It's the slippery slope! First the top of the shoulders, then the whole shoulder with straps, then no straps, then .... well it's very bad... slippery slopes, that is! :-)

Ask the women's studies scholars, what they would say is patriarchal power systems create arbitrary rules over the woman's body and this is just another one of those arbitrary rules because you are right, it makes no sense, except for the fact that some dudes in suits with the cult listening said "Thou shalt not wear sleeveless blouses." That's all, don't struggle with this question anymore

By the way these things go in cycles too, responding to fashion and cultural changes. AND it's really easy to inculcate ladies that these fashion rules are for their own benefit. Here's another example of how this happens:
https://twitter.com/knock_5/status/613395694821322752

But it's all about CONTROL and subjugation and it works

Striking.

Sadly, it's often women that make sure other women follow the rules.

Shoulders are evil. Mormon men are extremely are vulnerable to naked shoulders. Looking at naked shoulders of female temptresses leads to the heinious male Sib of masturbation.it is the fault of the woman with shoulders the cause the sin

You know it's all a crock too, when they bend the rules and "allow" women to wear normal swimsuits. Clearly, if they were REALLY worried about such extreme modesty in dress, they would insist that it be followed on the beach as well - and the women would all be encased in cap-sleeved, non-clingy-even-when-wet, down to the knees, jump suits. But like everything else, it all seems to be calculated.

It'll be a niche market, but still, there is money to be made:

very light, foam body panels that when properly worn turn the woman into a sort of Bic lighter on closed toe shoes (because, you know, some men might get off on naked toes). Each leg is enclosed in thigh panels and lower leg panels.

The overall effect would be complete asexuality, which ought to please ghawd and his fossils.

It's very odd, especially considering that there was a time when women who had not been through the temple could freely expose their shoulders and even wear strapless dresses. And now, even very young girls are policed for "immodesty." It makes me wonder when and why people in the Mormon church doubled-down.

And as I've said before, how can any of these good republicans watch fox news, let alone the Today Show or any other national news show? They even wear sleeveless in winter.

We always wore sleeveless as kids, as did my children. I wore sleeveless to church before I went through the temple. That was the 1970s/80s.

You can't say it is sexist, though, because men have to cover their garments as well, right? Or are there sleeveless garments for men?

Are men's shoulders sexy? Why, yes, just like other parts.

It's not even so much the shoulders. A normal sleeveless shirt or dress completely covers the shoulders. It's the upper arm that is provocative. Just that 2 inches at the very top of the upper arm. You know, like how they show pictures of that part of the arm in Playboy and Penthouse just to turn guys on.

They could easily make the ladies garmies a camisole type that would require your having to wear a sleeveless top that came right to the end of your shoulder. But it would open up a world of shopping opportunities for them. But no. If they don't have something, like the top couple of inches of your arm, to be in control of, they would be losing their grip.

Just google images for "homecoming queen 1964," and you'll see that this shoulder hysteria was not always the case. When I was at BYU between 1969-1972, it was not uncommon at all for a girl to wear a sleeveless dress, and there was not push to insist that girls start dressing for the temple before they were actually going there. One of my girlfriends, now my wife, used to wear sleeveless dresses at BYU. (In true Mormon form, she how denies that, which to me is--plain and simply--lying. I wish I had pictures.) The shoulder hysteria is a more recent phenomenon, probably still caused by temple stuff, however. Probably causes by overthinking about the capped sleeves on temple garments, plus the ever growing concentration of obedience. Nowadays, everything seems to be an exercise in obedience.

I meant you should google "BYU homecoming queen 1964." And BYU homecoming queens throughout the 60s. You see a lot of sleeveless stuff among the "royalty."

I saw my friends high school year book from the late 60's. All the senior girl's pictures showed bare shoulders without any hint of any clothing.

I'd chided her and ask if she had any clothes on all, she'd just blush and laugh a little, with a "wouldn't you like to know what went on?".

I still love her to this day, haven't had any communications with her in over 40 years.

They're Utah tits. As in "Honey, cover your Utah tits".

Oh, I love me some shoulders.
When I see shoulders, I immediately go into a sexual frenzy, and I lose all control. I just *have* to touch 'em. Caress 'em. Feel their soft contours. I'm getting all worked up just thinking about 'em...

OK, I made that up. I do like shoulders, but not really any more than any other parts of women's bodies. Truth be told, I find *women* sexually attractive. All parts of them. Eyes, hair, ankles, hands, mouths -- yes, even shoulders. However, no matter which parts of them I see (or hold in my imagination), somehow I manage to control myself, and I don't start fondling every woman I see that shows some part of her I find attractive. 'Cause I'm a normal, sexual but thinking male.

I suspect the GA's aren't like me. I suspect THEY are the ones described in my first paragraph above. And that if they had their way, mormon women wouldn't just cover their shoulders, they'd be in burkas...secret little covered-up goodies to only be unwrapped by a holy priesthood holder in the holy order of the temple-web bedroom, but not visible to anyone else.

That's what I suspect.

It could be a backlash against porn. When your old fetishes are bulldozed, invent new ones. Of course, that also means inventing a new genre: shoulder porn.

http://www.bobdiven.com/images/643_XPortraitWebHi.jpg


<gasp> Shoulders!


This is a re-creation of the original version of John Singer Sargent's "Portrait of Madame X" (1884). Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau was a wealthy Louisiana Créole expatriate living in France.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Madame_X

This painting was considered to be so scandalous that it destroyed any hope of a successful career in France for the artist.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2016 02:09PM by anybody.