Yoga Pants and Feminist Experiments

Last Saturday, my husband asked if I would like to go on a date, our first since I had been sick.

"Okay, I'll go," I said. "But I am going to wear what I have on." 

I still was not feeling completely well, and I was very comfortable in my yoga pants and oversize lime green t-shirt.

"You don't want to at least change into jeans?"

"What is that supposed to mean? I think I look just fine in yoga pants."

"You do look cute in yoga pants. It's just . . . well . . . it's not really date night attire."

Up until that moment, I may have considered changing my clothes. Instead, I decided to wage a battle against society's assumptions about the way a woman is supposed to dress. Dan, my husband, calls these campaigns my "feminist experiments." 

Once when we were arguing (yes, Dan and I argue sometimes; that's what happens when two alphas live together), Dan mentioned that he didn't like me doing my "feminist experiments" on him. He didn't mean this as a compliment, but I made the expression my own and have used it with pride ever since.

"You're not supposed to think I'm being funny when I'm angry with you," Dan said.

But the term stuck.

"If you're not going to shower, I'm not going to change," I announced. "I want to be comfortable."

"You could change into jeans. Jeans are comfortable."

"And I'm not putting on make-up."

Dan decided he couldn't take me to a nice restaurant even though it's Boise, Idaho, and people wear yoga pants all the time to nice restaurants. So we ate at Souper!Salad! which was fine with me since my appetite was not quite 100%.

"We're getting old. We go to buffets all the time," Dan said. (We had just been to Primo's the night before.)

"I still won't set foot in anything that says chuck or wagon or corral in the name," I said.

"If you would wear something other than yoga pants . . . "

That is when I started singing (because I could finally sing again) from my favorite feminist experiment, Free to Be You and Me:

"When we grow up, will I be pretty?/Will you be big and strong?/Will I wear dresses that show off my knees?/Will you wear trousers twice as long?/Well, I don't care if I'm pretty at all./And I don't care if you never get tall./I like what I look like, and you're nice small./We don't have to change at all."

"That song means I am allowed to wear yoga pants if I want."

The next day, Dan and I were getting ready for church, and Dan noticed I was wearing my wool pea coat. He, on the other hand, was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt.

"Should I wear my wool coat too?" he asked.

"We are going to church, you know. All that fuss over yoga pants, and you won't even dress up a little for God."

Who is looking too casual now?

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