Modesty

I'm Baaaack! More or less as a method of thinking through my thoughts on a topic that I read about tonight.

For those of you who might be interested, I'm a Christian. For me, that means that I have a personal relationship with Jesus, rather than following a heap of rules and regulations. Anyway, a blog that I really enjoy is Stuff Christians Like, a somewhat satirical series of posts about the culture of American Christianity. Last Friday's post was about what sort of bathers Christian women should wear. The comment section was not quite an out and out war between those who believe that women should dress in a way that does not cause their brothers to stumble (ie: look upon them in lust) and those who think women should  have the freedom to wear whatever they want. I could see the point of the argument on both sides. In order to come a little closer to my decision as to which camp I fit in (which will probably end up as neither), I will write through my thoughts in list form:

1) When I go to the beach, I usually wear a tankini (long-topped two-piece bathing suit). This is mainly because I prefer my internal monologue to be "Beach! Swimming! Sandcastles! Win!" than "Are my bathers covering all the important bits? How about now? Are they still preventing me from being arrested for indecent exposure?". Or, at the other extreme, "I really dislike swimming in this ankle length skirt. It really restricts the ease of movement I need when participating in physical exercise."

2) It seems a logical step for a man to justify lusting after a woman due to what she's wearing, to a man to justifying raping a woman because of what she's wearing. This is totally unacceptable in any circumstance. A few years ago, a muslim mufti made Australian news headlines by comparing scantily-clad women to uncovered meat, saying that if a dog (a man) eats (rapes) a piece of uncovered meat (a scantily-clad woman), it is the fault of the meat, rather than the dog. This doesn't sit well with me on several levels:

• I remember everyone being offended that in this statement, women were called meat. Why didn't anyone raise any objection that men were being called dogs?
• Who uncovered the meat? 

3)  Why do (some) women feel the need to dress at the limit of what is considered socially acceptable anyway?

4) Isn't it a cultural thing as to whether some items of dress are acceptable or not? I remember laughing at a cartoon about the early years of the 20th century about how indecent it was to see a woman's knees.

5) Some people were making the comment that a woman would not answer the door in her bras and undies, but would quite happily swim in a bikini. I would like to point out that bathers and undies are two different things, depending on both the type of material, and whether water is present. (See the trumpet 'simplifying summer' ad for more info on that one)

6) Why are all the 'rules' of modesty directed toward women? C'est ne juste pas!

7) Ultimately, people should question why they wear the clothes they choose to wear? Societal expectations? Comfort? To look hot? To glorify God?

I still haven't reached a definitive conclusion, and I don't think I ever will...