NOM

My stake is holding youth conference soon. One of the activities will be swimming. Usually this is a great idea as it is hot and humid and it helps the youth burn some energy. However, our stake has decided to add an unusual requirement for swimming this year. They are requiring that all swimmers (male and female) wear a t-shirt while swimming (and presumably while near the pool).

This came from stake leaders, but I don't know if it just the stake YM/YW presidencies or if the stake presidency signed off.

I'm just shaking my head at this requirement. It's like some in the church are trying to drive youth away from the church. I am a more liberal thinker when it comes to interpreting church rules, but I can't fathom why even an orthodox member would think this is a good idea or necessary. What really floors me is how poorly it prepares youth for the real world. For this one activity all youth will be covered by a t-shirt, but what about when they go to the beach or a public pool? Every beach and public pool I've been to has many women in bikinis, most men with no shirts, and even some men in speedos (usually those are the ones you don't want to see). Why not focus on how to maintain clean thoughts instead of forcing an arbitrary rule that teaches nothing?

Has anyone else seen this "modesty" rule in effect in their area?

T-shirts or not, I distinctly remember as a teen boy how "hard" it was not to stare at the sisters while in the pool at youth activities. If they want more mind control over the kids, best to keep them in pioneer era clothing and sweat it out on the prairie with handcarts...never mind, that doesn't work either.

I know of a couple of reported stories of girls at girls camp trying to swim in oversized T-shirts and shorts (as required by leaders) and getting bogged down to the point they had to have a leader rescue them from near drowning. The big loose T-shirts the girls wear (are forced to wear) over swim suits are not designed to swim in. It would be safer to require burkinies, like Moslems, but that would horrify parents and really show how silly the rules are. But Burkinies at least are designed for swimming and not made out of heavy cotton that resists movement through the water. Just plain and simple, they are endangering lives for their silly modesty rules. A one piece swim suit was modest enough for a few generations, until Mormons went nuts over skin showing.

Someone really needs to tell the leaders that wet t-shirt contests are still a thing because girls look sexier in a wet t-shirt clinging to their skin and 3/4 see through than they do in a normal one piece swim suit, but then maybe it is the male leaders getting their jollies out of girls in wet t-shirts.

If they can’t deal rationally with swim wear, they should not have swimming as an activity. Or just admit we are trying to outdo Moslems on the modesty issue and adopt the burkini.

Once when we were at our usual campground in Mt Pleasant to ATV the Arapeen trail we noticed that the swimming pool was unusually full and most of the kids were wearing t-shirts over their swim suits. It was very unusual but we shrugged it off, then we realized that the Manti Pageant was that weekend. Explained the T-shirt’s. The cult was in town.

On one hand, I'll give credit that atleast they are being equal about the rules. Everyone has to wear a shirt.

On the other hand, I want to shake my head about the fear over something so basic as skin. Have none of these people gone to just about any public pool in Utah? What exactly are they trying to prevent?

And how much hanky panky is going on that the leader's can't see?

If you ask me, this warps minds of the youth in a couple of ways:

• It teaches them to be judgmental about what others are wearing

• It teaches them that the most important things about modesty are what you are wearing, rather than a commitment to values

• It teaches them to be ashamed of their bodies (there's no telling how much damage this kind of thing has done to the sexual relationships of married Church members over the years)

• It is just another way that the Church makes its youth into weirdos who can't relate to the rest of the planet

I don't think these kinds of modesty requirements are especially healthy.

alas wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:35 am

I know of a couple of reported stories of girls at girls camp trying to swim in oversized T-shirts and shorts (as required by leaders) and getting bogged down to the point they had to have a leader rescue them from near drowning. The big loose T-shirts the girls wear (are forced to wear) over swim suits are not designed to swim in.

Yep....

Just ran this past my wife who is/was a water safety expert and lifeguarded at BYU and she said exactly the same thing. Even for good swimmers a T shirt can make getting out of a bad situation much more dangerous.

I guess church leadership would rather have their children drown than view a male nipple or a female "button" manifesting under her suit.

Yes drowning is preferable to the stray thought of physical anatomy on display....

ETA: The other requirement added by the Stake is that all swimmers regardless of age or ability must remain in either the kiddy pool or the shallow end of the adult pool where water level is below four feet. (There....solved the safety issue.)

Great. All the extra laundry detergent from the t-shirts to foam up the pool. Sorry, I used to do pool maintenance. Lotions, and soaps suck.

But seriously, have the stake leaders forgotten what the Church used to look like? When it was fun and the ward did stuff? I bet they didn't wear t-shirts. Did they turn into a sexual deviants?

Well... There are such things as "Swim Shirts" nowadays. They're called Rash Guards. Designed for surfers who spends hours a day in the water. Made from Lycra.

And... If you know anything about Lycra, you know that a tight Lycra "shirt," designed for "swimming" isn't going to be very "modest."


LD$-Inc.'s complete and absolute obsession with the human form is completely and absolutely crazy. Imagine what the organization could do if they simply focused on being a good human? [SHUDDER]

Why don’t they just require everyone to wear full length wet suits?

I highly recommend the 7 of 9 brand of swim attire.

The way the church uses modesty to shame members about their body is so offensive.

I was talking with DW about garments maybe a month ago and she kept telling me how even if the church removed garment requirements she still wouldn't feel comfortable in non-garment approved clothes because she doesn't think her arms/legs/etc look good.

And it's such BS...but the church makes you think you have to cover up all of these areas that are beyond absurd and eventually you begin to believe that the problem is you.

I get *modesty* lessons... especially for teens when you don't want girls going to parties in tube tops and the shortest of skirts, etc... I mean freedom to all but as a parent I would not allow it just from my own experiences as a teen.

But I don't get the church's form of modesty which goes so far above and beyond the norms and then tops it off with such a huge helping of shame and judgment.

My opinion is that these sort of things come from adults that enjoy judging others. Since they enjoy it (and presumably associate that joy with the spirit) it must be good and therefore should be spread far and wide.

I will say that Salt Lake doesn't push things to the extreme, but they could do a lot more to stop crazy locals from doing so.