Modesty Survey :: Main

Modesty Survey :: Main:

The Modesty Survey is an exciting, anonymous discussion between Christian guys and girls who care about modesty. Hundreds of Christian girls contributed to the 148-question survey and over 1,600 Christian guys submitted 150,000+ answers, including 25,000 text responses, over a 20-day period in January 2007.

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Paper Daisies and Feministing point out this very strange survey devolving through the Christian community of teenagers and young adults. Some conclusions of this community are things like : Women wearing jeans are immodest. Visible Swimming suit ties are immodest. etc. etc. … I have a problem here… To me, the posters fail to understand what modesty is. Modesty is not about the audience, it is about appropriate respect of oneself, which usually is implied through some relationship with a diety or a tradition. To be modest is not about the affects of your clothes on other people, as the affects of your clothes exist in the minds of others. To be modest, you need to feel comfortable with who you are, in your own clothes in a way that fits with whatever traditional beliefs you may have. Modesty is a ‘virtue’ in some cultures and it exists in the minds of those who are modest, and it is about them being comfortable with themselves . it does not exist in attempting to making men, boys, women, or girls more comfortable. It is not something that you should promote to make people feel bad about themselves or their bodies. It really is just an ideology in the end, but in that it is accepted by some women and men as part of their identity, we should respect those choices, as we are a plural society, but we should not extend those arguments to our own opinion about those people who choose or do not choose the values found in that ideology/tradition. If someone’s clothes makes you uncomfortable… if someone’s body makes you uncomfortable, then I suggest it is your problem and you should look toward the appropriate texts and communities to seek resolution within yourself. However, you should not be pursuing the line that argues that your lack of comfort with your own identity as a man or woman allows you to make claims about the propriety or modesty of other people, as that would be vicious, and immodest.