Although I can't present as flawless an argument as Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal, I hope to present a view of modesty that many in the homeschool group have perhaps missed. You see, there are people who believe that girls must wear floor length dresses as a show of modesty. The central idea of dressing modestly is to not attract attention. By definition, modesty is the quality or state of being unassuming or moderate. In dressing this way, these people have missed the point of modesty.
Look at a floor length dress. Does the word moderate come to mind? A floor length dress is anything but moderate. On a scale of mini skirts to floor length dress, the floor length dress is an extreme.
When you're shopping at Walmart and you see a woman in a floor length dress, what do you usually think? I can almost guarantee that you will take notice of this woman. In doing so, you are negating her goal in dressing modestly, if her goal is to be modest. But somehow, I have a feeling her real goal is not modesty. Sweeping along in a magnificently long dress, she intends to draw attention to how modest she is.
These people argue that dressing otherwise is dressing like the world. Well, is there anything especially wrong with the way the world dresses? There are people who dress like whores, but they certainly aren't a majority. Most people manage to dress in a way that doesn't draw any special attention to them, but these homeschoolers have missed that. They falsely believe that modesty requires long dresses. Thus, they parade in those anachronistic relics of regime long past with the narrow-minded belief that dressing otherwise is wrong.
I think that one argument in particular says that dressing in modern clothes draws to much attention to the body. Here's the problem with that: dressing in a huge, showy dresses attracts much more attention than dressing in jeans and a tee shirt. And if you have more attention, you also have more attention directed at your body. Once again, the intention of dressing modestly is compromised.
Another argument is being an example to the world of how to dress. This is overtly immodest. I don't know how many people think this, but it's a thoroughly self-defeating idea. Rather than quietly going about their modest lives, these people have decided to parade the way they dress before the world in an attempt to convert people. How they manage to miss the hypocrisy of this amazes me. Trying to get attention is not modest. Trying to get attention to convince people to be modest like you is hypocritical.
It seems that this objection is based primarily in etymology rather than the actual point of modesty.
ReplyDeleteI do agree, though, that some (perhaps many) aspects of modesty are about how much attention is drawn to the body rather than inherently revealing too much. It is in these areas that modesty really is relative to the culture. (That is, if it's perceived as scandalous, it will draw the wrong kind of attention no matter how inherently reasonable it may be).
I also do believe that it's quite possible for women to dress in a way that is completely appropriate and at the same time does not blatantly stand out in the culture. Such should usually be the goal of women trying to dress modestly.
However, it's a fact that in our culture (not uniquely), women dressing in a way that calls attention to sexual appeal is the norm. Thus, dressing "normally" does not necessarily mean dressing "modestly".
One of the most common examples of this (again, not terribly unique to today's culture) is low-cut tops that reveal a significant amount of cleavage. Because a woman's breasts are inherently sexually appealing, it cannot be considered appropriate for a woman to show them off no matter how normal it may be in the culture.
Same would go for apparel that covers only a very small amount (no more than modern underwear). Being mostly naked is inherently suggestive.
That's not to say that some may not become desensitized to the point that such provocative apparel no longer gets their attention, but this cannot be relied upon, and for young singles particularly, will usually only occur through immoral behavior (including pornography).
Well Earl...TheCow, what do you think the point of modesty is?
ReplyDeleteLol, so I was too lazy to put my name down and just used the Google Account I happened to be signed into. :P
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, obviously there is the aspect of modesty mentioned in Scripture of avoiding extravagance in apparel that draws attention.
I think when conservative homeschoolers talk about "modesty", they're usually talking more about the aspect of avoiding sexually provocative dress.
This sort of modesty has two primary purposes: 1) To avoid unwanted attention from men who have no purity of eyes or thought, and 2) to make it easier for men who _do_ strive for purity of mind to avoid the temptation of lust.
So, the point of modesty is really to not attract a bad kind of attention. Thus, the point of modesty does fit into the larger, etymological meaning of something that does not attract special attention.
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