Answer

1. There is no prohibition in this at all. If this leads you to forbidden thoughts, there may be a prohibition. But even so, if this is part of normal life, then you must overcome it, and that’s that. It is not correct to forbid a normal way of life even if a person comes to improper thoughts because of it. This is of course connected to a case of “it is unavoidable and not intended,” and see column 487 about this.
2. a. This is a custom/enactment that seemingly remains binding even when its original reason no longer applies. But today it is so far removed from reality that there is room to permit otherwise. Some have written that nowadays the reader’s repetition is meant to turn the prayer into a communal prayer. That is a plausible reason, but it seems not to have been the original reason. The question is whether one may maintain a law on the basis of a different reason, or whether that would amount to new legislation, which today we have no authority to enact. Many have the custom to sit. Same here.
3. See the above columns.