Dressing the handmaid

Lilies of the Field is now a reality, though I doubt seriously that its creators are Atwood afficionados. You can buy dresses like this if you are one of the people who is frustrated that you cannot find clothing that "would honor the Lord." If you are guessing that this modest clothing line is for women and girls only, you are right.

As an irrelevant Second Wave feminist, I, too, am sick of seeing girls and young women with their breasts hanging out and their pants so tight that a good sneeze will rip them in two. I am sick of it because it means that girls have bought into the belief that they have to sell sex to get anywhere. For some time now, I have been fascinated by the way in which my values intersect with the values of people like the Lilies of the Field crowd.

But the intersection is superficial, just like the intersection between my dislike of various sexual displays by women and the Christian right's dislike of them. I am against strip shows and naked sushi nights because they objectify women; they oppose these events because, by their existence, they are acknowledgments of the existence of sex.

The Lilies of the Field fashions are cartoon-like in their prairie-virtue drabness, despite the bloomers being kind of hip-sexy. The clothes are a statement against sexuality, and I don't know who will buy them. I live around hundreds of right-wing Christian girls and women, and they all dress like Britney Spears. Apparently, there are different sartorial ways of honoring the Lord.