Why Do Women Wear Revealing Clothes? Part 1

Last updated on: February 20, 2025 at 5:51 pm by Jeana Jorgensen

Why Do Women Wear Revealing Clothes? Part 1 2025-02-20T17:51:57-04:00 Jeana Jorgensen

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’ve been getting some, uh, interesting comments on my posts about setting boundaries as a sex-positive person, about whether acting/dressing sexy means you “deserve it,” and about “mild” sexual harassment.

The gist of those gems is that women who wear revealing clothes, or have sexified names or personas, should expect harassment, and perhaps even deserve it. This is basic rape culture bullshit: namely, blaming and shaming the victim, shifting responsibility to them for the actions of abusers, harassers, and stalkers, and so on.

In this post I’ll describe some of the many reasons why women wear revealing clothes, and in the follow-up post, I’ll talk about why it matters (or doesn’t). As a body art scholar, this stuff is endlessly fascinating to me, and can reveal a lot about a given culture.

So, reasons that women wear revealing clothes include:

The weather is hot
She’s engaging in exercise
She’s engaging in exercise (or coming from/going to that activity) that requires certain parts of the body to be exposed (swimming, running in really humid weather, hot yoga, certain types of aerial or pole dance that require “stick” of the skin, etc.)
She’s showing off tattoos, piercings, henna, or other body art
She’s soaking up some sun for vitamin D and/or tanning purposes
She’s a performer, artist, or model in character/costume (or doing a photoshoot, ahem)
She likes certain parts of her body and wants to show them
She dislikes certain parts of her body and is trying to get over it by showing them
She has an injury that needs to air out rather than be covered (e.g., as a fire spinner, I’ve burned myself on the forearm, and couldn’t wear long sleeves for a time)
She’s experiencing hot flashes due to hormones or other medical issues
She likes certain styles and cuts of clothes that show some skin
She had to leave her home in a hurry and forgot to add a layer
She doesn’t equate arbitrary amounts of fabric on her skin with self-worth, self-esteem, or seduction
She rejects modesty culture as a falsely binaristic imposition upon women
She rejects modesty culture because she’s an atheist and dislikes its heavily moralizing Christian overtones
She rejects modesty culture because she’s a pagan, and believes that bodies are sacred, beautiful, and sexy, and reveling in one’s body is a form of worship
She likes feeling sexy, and wearing form-fitting or revealing clothes is one way to do so
She (or they, or he) might be genderqueer, non-binary, agender, androgynous, or trans, and thus rejects gendered norms, or plays with them, or subverts them
She’s trying to model body positivity at any/every size, demonstrating that just because you don’t fit the “ideal” body type doesn’t mean you can’t show any skin

Assumptions no one should make include:

That revealing clothing is an invitation
That revealing clothing is meant for your appreciation or gaze
That revealing clothing is an issue that reflects or impacts one’s morality
That revealing clothing is… anything, really. What the hell does “revealing” even mean?
That revealing clothing matters on women’s bodies but not men’s

What are your reasons for wearing – or not wearing – revealing clothes? And how do you even begin to define “revealing” clothing? Is there any useful way to go about this, above and beyond legal definitions?

Style and Religion

Previous Post

June 3, 2016

That Time Someone Called the Police on Me in Belly Dance Attire

Next Post

June 5, 2016 Why Do Women Wear Revealing Clothes? Part 2

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category #FolkloreThursday Academia Academic Folklore Art Culture Dance Digital Humanities Education Fairy Tales Fantasy Feminism Folklore Food Gender & Sexuality Ideas Meta Miscellaneous Observations Religion and Folklore Sex Education Travel Writing

Select a Month September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 October 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 October 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz