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Modesty and the Naked Truth

Modesty and the Naked Truth

Last updated on: August 7, 2017 at 1:49 pm by Kate Cousino

Modesty and the Naked Truth 2017-08-07T13:49:24-04:00 Kate Cousino

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I want to propose a definition for modesty that seems to me to fit all of the best, most common-sense ideas of dress and modesty, while avoiding the traps some fall into which make it such a difficult virtue to talk about.

First of all, I want to reject any definition that defines modesty strictly in terms of a negative: “Modesty is avoiding tempting others to lust. Modesty is avoiding drawing attention to your sexual attributes. Modesty is not standing out. Modesty is not wearing these clothes.”

While some of those things might be the effects of a modest wardrobe, a virtue should not be a negative. A virtue must be something that can be aspired to and embraced, not merely the absence of a vice.

We should strive for more than to merely run away from what is harmful to us; we should be running towards something that heals and transforms us.

Have you ever tried to break a bad habit by sheer force of will? Sooner or later, you forget why you aren’t doing whatever it is you are avoiding. Yes, there might be consequences you would like to avoid, but it just doesn’t feel like living to be constantly making choices out of fear rather than something stronger and greater. Nor is it very sustainable.

We try to counter a culture that tells women they have to dress to be sexually alluring to men by proposing to them that they dress ‘modestly’ to avoid leading men into sin. But both options leave us struggling to mind-read people we might not even know, and that in itself is degrading—both for the woman who is asked to consider her sexual affect on men every time she dresses, and for the men whom we must make assumptions and generalizations about in order to even begin to talk about what is alluring or ‘immodest.’

Sometimes, we even manage to combine both demands. “Modest is hottest”? Really?

Is that the effect a virtue should have?

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