It’s 2019, and I thought the “leggings aren’t pants” debate was long over. But apparently, the reign of “real pants” won’t go down without a fight.
A mom at the University of Notre Dame is on a crusade against what she calls “The Legging Problem.” She even published a letter to the editor in the school’s newspaper about it.
“I’m not trying to insult anyone or infringe upon anyone’s rights,” the woman wrote. “I’m just a Catholic mother of four sons with a problem that only girls can solve: leggings.”
Yes, because we all know that being a mom of four sons makes her uniquely qualified to comment on what young women should wear!
“Leggings are so naked, so form fitting, so exposing,” the letter continued. “Could you think of the mothers of sons the next time you go shopping and consider choosing jeans instead?”
Long story short, over 1,000 students at the university organized to wear leggings to class this week in protest. Because women can wear whatever they want to, and these young people are not accepting otherwise.
Maryann White is a mom of four sons, as she informed everyone immediately in her now-infamous letter to the editor in The Observer, the student newspaper at the University of Notre Dame.
She went on to explain exactly why leggings are such a “problem” for her sons and other men.

“A world in which women continue to be depicted as ‘babes’ by movies, video games, music videos, etc. makes it hard on Catholic mothers to teach their sons that women are someone’s daughters and sisters,” the letter continued. “That women should be viewed first as people — and all people should be considered with respect.”
Her point: Leggings make that very hard because they expose women’s “nether regions.”
“I was ashamed for the young women at Mass. I thought of all the other men around and behind us who couldn’t help but see their behinds,” she wrote. “My sons know better than to ogle a woman’s body — certainly when I’m around (and hopefully, also when I’m not). They didn’t stare, and they didn’t comment afterwards. But you couldn’t help but see those blackly naked rear ends. I didn’t want to see them — but they were unavoidable. How much more difficult for young guys to ignore them.”
Side note: Can we talk about the phrase BLACKLY NAKED REAR ENDS?