Hakatan,
I would need to see an actual source. I don’t consider a random quoted source in a some mishpacha article a source (especially because they aren’t exactly a quality peer reviewed paper).
However, he is not the only MO theologian/Rabbi, so I’m not sure the point stands.
As to why be MO if you can break halacha without being thrown out of your community? Well, that’s a pretty ridiculous statement. I know plenty of groups of Yeshivish women who gather weekly purely to speak lashon hara. My yeshivish cousin landed in jail for financial fraud and he was surrounded by many yeshivish people in prison. And Yeshivish society has plenty of trouble with women flaunting their version of halachic tznius.
MO has different standards within halacha. So no, I don’t think wearing a skirt 4″ past my knee or covering my collar bone or wearing sleeves past my elbow is necessary to be following halacha. More is not always better. Charedi rabbonim clearly agree or they wouldn’t have banned burqas in Israel. The question is where to draw the halachic line and we each turn to our own Rabbonim.
However, no one is going to throw you out of the community if you do something, especially if its a bein adam lamakom. Baruch hashem! No one is perfect. Everyone is a work in progress and there is no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
My coworkers still marvel at the fact that I’ve never eaten a ruben. Or worked on Saturday during an emergency. Or countless of other things that fall within halacha.
But if you don’t need modernity, that’s fine. Good luck finding a doctor who practices talmudic anatomy!