Post-JW Fashion

One of the things you don’t think about when leaving a high-control religion is how it will affect your wardrobe. As an elder in the congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses, I was expected to set an example of proper dress and grooming. So, I had plenty of suits, dress shirts, and ties for every occasion. There wasn’t much variation in the standard JW attire. Since JWs dress up for every meeting (2-3 per week) and when going door to door (5 or more times per week), I had a lot of “dress clothes”. 

Casual clothes were also a bit “dressy” from an outsider's perspective. Social JW gatherings had all the fashion sense of a “Leave it to Beaver” episode. I didn’t have much in this category of clothing.

When I realized I wanted to leave the Jehovah’s Witnesses behind, I changed a few things about my wardrobe. I wore lapel pins on my suit coat when I went to meetings. Each was a silent, symbolic protest against the organization. I started buying the loudest ties from the 40s and 50s I could find, trying to express some sort of individuality.

Finally, came the beard. For reasons no one quite understands, JWs in the U.S. strongly disapprove of men in their congregations having a beard. They can have mustaches and sideburns but, not beards. I never understood why chin skin was so holy but, that’s the way I was raised. 

Just before I left, I started growing a beard. I have enough Chickasaw blood in me to make that a difficult thing. But, I had to do it for my last meeting as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. There was a very good reason for having a beard at this meeting.

Jehovah’s Witnesses read, study, and obey the writings of their Governing Body as expressed in the Watchtower magazine (the same magazine they bring to your door). They discuss articles from this magazine in a question and answer format at their Sunday meetings. In 2016, one of these articles discussed facial hair for the first time in years. To me, it seemed like they had softened their position on the beard ban and, as long as it was neatly groomed, they would allow it. I decided to test this by going to the meeting when this Watchtower article would be discussed. 

After a paragraph from the article is read aloud at the meeting, a question is asked. The “conductor” of this discussion can then call on a volunteer from the audience to answer this question based on the paragraph that has just been read. If that sounds like a circular and self-reinforcing teaching method well, welcome to cult life!

After the paragraph about beards had been read, I listened to the comments from the audience. I was curious about their interpretation of this information. Did they see beards as acceptable now? Here’s a sample of what I heard:

“Since the Watchtower is a global magazine, the information can’t be specific to a certain area. So, what might be acceptable in some countries is not acceptable here.”

“We can tell that it is not appropriate for any minister of God to have a beard in our area because no one here has a beard.”

After this last comment, I sat up as tall as possible and looked around the room. I wanted them to know that I was there, full beard and all. I sat for the rest of that meeting knowing that this was the last time I would be in a Kingdom Hall. When I turned on my car to leave, the radio was playing “Highway to Hell”. I laughed and pulled out of that parking lot for the last time.

Soon after leaving the religion, I moved to Austin. This gave me a chance to get rid of clothes I would never need again. And, it gave me the chance to dress like I never have. I now enjoy finding and wearing unique and varied outfits for the first time.

Sometimes it’s the small freedoms that give us the greatest joy. 

BEFORE:

AFTER: