Today I've mostly been thinking about my upcoming interview for a youthwork post. What amazed me was that I am most worried about what I'm going to wear! Not in a vain, shallow kind of way (although obviously I want to look my best!), but in terms of whether that neckline is too low, or whether I can wear that skirt.
Churches tend to suggest a certain type of dress, certain standards as acceptable in their midsts. And the reason usually given for not wearing a mini-skirt or a vest top is that it might distract men in the congregation. Having recently read Hayley DiMarco's "Sexy Girls" she concurs with this view, and seems to be suggesting that before turning up to church all girls should consider whether what they are wearing will make the pastor think about sex!
Now, I think we should be teaching young girls to have respect for themselves and their bodies, but I am concerned that in setting these guidelines on clothing we are encouraging girls to think of themselves as sex objects, and we are telling them that that's how everybody else sees them too.
Do we really want to send them that message? Do we really want to hamper healthy relationships between all ages and sexes in the church in this way? And do we really, as I believe DiMarco's book does, want to legitimize men of all ages feeling and acting that way towards women?

I was reading an interview with the actress Jessica Alba recently. She's a Christian, but she stopped going to church when one of her church elders came and told her that her body was leading men in the church into sin. Not that she was wearing clothes that were too revealing, but that the way she was made by God was considered to be sinful!
Maybe the answer to problems between women and men in both church and society is not to wear burka-like gear, but to encourage young men and women (and old men and women) to stop viewing each other as sexual objects. To encourage them to view each other as people, and brothers and sisters in Christ. Maybe if Christian thinkers and leaders of churches stopped going on about how dressing in a certain way could lead your Christian brothers to sin, they should start thinking and talking about how we get away from sexual feelings and thoughts being in the forefront of how we see those around us.
Is it ok to think degrading sexual thoughts about a girl who is wearing clothes that cover up her body? Is it ok to think in that way of a girl who is wearing a mini-skirt? Is she asking for it? Is the onus on the girl to dress differently, or on the guy to develop a more healthy view of women?
Should girls and women have to be constantly worried whether they are 'too hot' for the men in the church to concentrate on the sermon? Should we also be focusing on encouraging the men in the church to see their fellow Christians in a different way?

I don't know, I'm just throwing it out there, but when people talk about dress codes and looking too sexy I hear an awful lot of negative thoughts toward the other sex in general.

I really don't think clothes are the real issue.