Attention women of Creighton: LEGGINGS ARE NOT PANTS.  No, my keyboard was not momentarily stuck on caps lock, and no, I am not being sarcastic. There is absolutely nothing I would love more than to broadcast my disgust with this fashion atrocity on the mall during lunchtime, megaphone in hand. Since I have not yet been able to locate a megaphone rental store, I will express my grievances in a quieter manner.

I don’t know if this garment abuse is occurring because women just aren’t aware of the problems that go along with wearing an extremely thin, 95 percent cotton and five percent spandex garment alone, or if someone hasn’t been brave enough to complain about it until now. But believe me, I have no problems voicing my complaints.

The truth is, when you wear leggings as pants we can see everything, and I mean everything. As much as I am complaining about leggings being worn as pants, I am using this article to beg you all to please stop assaulting me with your undergarments, or worse, your lady parts. I mean, if the sun didn’t exist I guess this would be less of a problem, but unfortunately for fashion victims, it does. And when that beautiful sun is shining on Creighton’s campus, it is gleaming all over your barely covered lower half, thus burning holes through my retinas.

As a woman, I feel as though womankind should take great pride in our gender. We should all work diligently to continue to portray ourselves as not only beautifully feminine, but smart, strong and capable individuals. We should all be painfully aware of the fact that abusing garments meant to be worn UNDER dresses and skirts (or traditionally worn as an extra under-layer during the cold months) is incredibly detrimental to gender equality and the image humanists before us have worked so hard to secure for women. Do you really want to create another excuse for men to treat you badly or revere you as the “lesser” sex? I, for one, am over the “make me a sandwich” jokes.

You may not have the same ideas about fashion as I do, but please know that I am not making an argument against dressing sexy. I am all for wearing form-fitting clothing or wearing a mini dress or skirt in the correct setting (as long as you cover yourselves in the appropriate areas, please). This article is not in the least bit meant to pressure you into giving up your personal expression. This article is meant to shed light on the fact that by wearing leggings as pants, you may be portraying a less-than-desirable image.

So remember, ladies, when a professor asks you to dress “business casual” for a presentation, this does NOT mean wearing only leggings and a collared shirt. And when you are going out on a Friday night, nobody is requiring you to wear leggings and a crop top in order to attract men. Actually, nobody worth spending time with is really advocating it. Here’s to being a generation of beautiful AND intelligent women! Now, feel free to set your leggings on fire.