Reality TV star Jinger Duggar broke the Internet and may have divided her family in one fell swoop. What caused this cataclysm? The "Counting On" star wore pants despite her parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar enforcing a skirt-only policy. Other married siblings Jill Duggar Dillard and Jessa Duggar Seewald have remained dutiful to family teaching. Scandal-rocked Anna Duggar wears dresses even to the gym. Jessa Seewald is giving talks on how women should dress modestly. So what's Jinger Vuolo's deal? Since marriage, is she slacking on modesty or just personalizing it?
How pants-clad Jinger Duggar defied her family
The "19 Kids and Counting" family is staunch fundamentalist evangelical Christian. Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar have very rigid rules for their children including a strict dress code for the girls. Strictures on modesty come mostly from the Old Testament of the Bible which talks about women not adorning or making themselves objects of lust for men. The "Counting On" parents interpret that to mean that girls should wear dresses or skirts. By donning pants, Jinger supposedly tempts men to carnal desires. Interestingly, though, most men consider dresses sexier than pants.
Jinger Dugger defines modesty conundrum
In Duggar dogma, slacks (and particularly jeans), equate to earthly pleasures.
It's a little hard to swallow their teaching since their own son Josh Duggar was the poster child for sexual worldliness. But sticking to the topic of dress, how do pants lead to sins of the flesh, when they cover more flesh than skirts? Even floor-length skirts reveal more skin. And if you bend over in a skirt, long or short, you show a lot more than you do in breeches.
So the only pleasure derived is comfort. Jinger Vuolo has been known to sport shorts, but hers showed about as much leg as her sister Jessa Seewald's touted skirt. Actually, Jessa Duggar has been known to sport shorts and sleeveless, skin-tight shirts as shown in the video above!
Duggar divides Christendom in pants
"Counting On" viewers were of two minds on Jinger's act of defiance.
Some reality television fans rejoiced to see the Duggar daughter defining her own fashion and defying her parents. Others defended the Duggars saying at least they didn't dress like Kardashians. Most just saw her attire as sensible. But it wasn't just fans who were split over Jinger's pants. The new wife of Jeremy Vuolo also caused a schism among Christians (and not just liberal ones). Even conservative Christians argue whether "modesty" in women's fashion isn't a slippery slope. And in the skirts vs. pants debate, pants may be the more modest. Pants cover the crotch more effectively and prevent any accidental wardrobe malfunctions. With their mannish appearance, slacks are less alluring than the more feminine dress.
