I am so happy to see this discussion here as I have been wanting to write about this for a long time. I did not read through all of the posts, but I saw that someone wrote asking “What if the person asked their Rav if it’s ok to wear shorter skirts?” I would say that would be fine except for the fact that I highly doubt that suddenly hundreds of frum women are all asking their rabbeim at the same time. When I lived in Eretz Yisrael 10 yrs ago, I was close with one woman who wore a skirt at her knees. Today? I am saddened to see a room full of women and teenage girls sitting in the playroom in shul shmoozing while all of their knees are showing and when a man walks by, most don’t even have the sensitivity anymore to pull down their skirts. I don’t address that because of the men issue – it’s the sensitivity that is the problem. Perhaps some women don’t realize how short their skirt is b/c they don’t have a full length mirror at home -but you always know how short it is when you sit down! It’s the “pushing it to the limit” while still covering the knees by the bare minimum that I find so hard to take. Did you HAVE to buy that skirt? But my friends – the same is true for dvds and movies – how many frum homes had those ten years ago? And how many now? How many times has one of my children told me “Sure Mommy my classmate saw that PG movie”. We live in a society that is hard to shut out, and I applaud people who are doing their best, and if they are “struggling” to wear or not wear a shorter skirt, well atleast they ARE struggling, versus those that just don’t care anymore, but if you are one of those with the disregard for the bare minimum of halacha – even if you don’t wear stockings (which I believe is minhag mahakom), please don’t be my daughter’s teacher and set that example for her, b/c I hope and pray that there will still be girls in the coming years covering their knees.
And a side point – if you spend all of that money on a sheitel to cover your hair for halacha – spend a few more dollars to add a panel to your skirt or shop in a frum store that still carries longer skirts.