I have five younger sisters and two of them are really starting to bother me with their attitude towards modesty.  The one attends public school with me and will wear skirts to school, but the minute she gets home she just wants to throw on a pair of jeans.  Sometimes she wears these mid thigh skirts with leggings underneath and says it's modest enough!  And then my nine year old sister almost absolutely refuses to wear skirts.  I had started to think I was making progress with her because every time she was wearing something I deemed improper I would politely correct her and she would go change.  Well this morning she came downstairs wearing leggings and a skirt that hardly covered her rear-end, I told her that ladies wear skirts that at least cover the knee but she just stood there and refused to go change.  And what gets even worse is when I confront my mom about it she does nothing and reminds me that she is the parent.  What bothers me is that when I was a freshman in high school like my one sister, I did have that attitude towards modesty.  But then this summer I was staying with one of my Catholic friends and she had me read Dressing With Dignity, which changed my outlook on modesty almost right away.  I've gotten my 14 year old sister read it, but all she says was it was an okay book.  I'm really worried that my two sisters aren't going to change their ways at all and it's really starting to concern me.  I've already confiscated some of the 9 year old's leggings and mini skirts but other than that I don't know what to do. And just to clear up any confusion, my parents are both Catholic, my dad really does try to enforce modesty but he never commands them to go change, instead he just says he wishes they would wear longer skirts.  And my mom gets so tired and stressed out that she doesn't feel like tackling the problem.  Anybody have any advice or should I just listen to my mom and let them keep straying farther and farther away from being young Catholic ladies?

The easiest way to handle it is for Mom and Dad not to buy trampy clothes to begin with.  Mom goes shopping WITHOUT sisters and Dad grows a backbone and does his job of protecting feminine virtue in the household.

Are Mom and Dad committed to Catholic virtue?  Sounds like they aren't, rather a bit worldly and care what others think of them.  Public school is a problem too.  How about homeschooling?

Therein lies the problem.

Your sisters are very fortunate to have you for their big sister, Philomene Marie!

One observation I can offer is, every girl on the planet would stop wearing
indecent clothing if the boy she wants attention from would not give it to her
unless she wore some proper clothing.   That is to say, if the boys stopped
paying attention to the street-walker look, it would cease overnight.  

Therefore, one thing Dad could do is to lavish praise on appropriate dress,
and consistently disapprove of the opposite.  Girls want to be noticed by their
father.  

As for selecting and obtaining tasteful clothing, that's generally Mom's department.
But Dad can be supportive of her, too.  A little encouragement from her
husband goes a long way, because mothers like to be appreciated, too.  

Together, Dad, Mom and big sister are fighting an enormous battle in these
days, when even the elect (if possible) would be deceived.  This is really
diabolical disorientation, when fashions have been introduced that are not
pleasing to God.  Many souls are lost in hell because of sins of the flesh, more
so than for any other reason.  And boys and men are constantly at risk for
those kinds of sin when they're around girls and women who dress immodestly.

Does your sister want to be a girl who is the reason that a boy she wants to
be appreciated by commits sin when he looks at her?  Doesn't she know that
he is only going to respect her less because of it?  If he says otherwise, he's
either fooling himself or else he's just lying to her - usually it's the LATTER!  
And then, why would a nice girl want anything to do with a boy like that?  

You all have such beautiful answers....

Philomene, my little sister always used to wear pants. Outside and inside. (not church or in public, though.) But soon, she began to put up a biiiig fuss whenever we told her she had to wear a skirt or a dress. The problem was solved by "getting rid" of almost all her pants, so she had to wear skirts. She got used to it pretty fast, and even began to love wearing them and she still does. Even to this day, my little sister only wears pants when she is outside roughing it!!

Philomene, as Neil said, your sisters are blessed to have a sister like you. Well done.

Pray that your sisters will realize the sinfulness of immodest dressing and will begin dressing modestly (I will pray for that to happen as well). Don't stop correcting them, though, if your parents aren't going to do it.

As Mrs. Z said, also pray that your parents will step up to the plate and do something about your sisters' immodest dressing.

God Bless.

That is to say, if the boys stopped
paying attention to the street-walker look, it would cease overnight.

So if only men stopped being subject to concupiscence women would be little angels.

That didn't exactly work out for Adam, did it?  Your rationalization knows no bounds.

Would immodestly dressed men ever make such a lame excuse?  They know very well they themselves are shameless, and if these girls don't know that they are shameless, it could well be because of these pathetic excuses that depend on blaming men.  

Quote from: Neil Obstat

That is to say, if the boys stopped
paying attention to the street-walker look, it would cease overnight.

So if only men stopped being subject to concupiscence women would be little angels.

That didn't exactly work out for Adam, did it?  Your rationalization knows no bounds.

Would immodestly dressed men ever make such a lame excuse?  They know very well they themselves are shameless, and if these girls don't know that they are shameless, it could well be because of these pathetic excuses that depend on blaming men.  

Yea, I think it works both ways.  If girls wouldn't dress provocatively boys wouldn't look and if boys wouldn't look girls wouldn't dress that way.  Both are equally at fault.

Marsha