Q&A: A Question About Modesty
A Question About Modesty
Question
Hello,
A small socio-philosophical question:
In the previous century, the ideal woman was the modest woman, dressed from the neck down to the calf. Today, vulgarity—or more precisely, exhibitionism—has become the ideal. The more a woman shows her body, the more ideal she is considered. She makes herself more and more sexual.
I have the impression that the more a woman is liberated and becomes equal to a man, the more she becomes, paradoxically, an object-woman, a commodity. The two things seem connected (and perhaps dependent) on one another.
How do you explain this phenomenon / paradox?
Answer
I think you’re mixing together two different groups. Because of this exhibitionism, feminists are angry about objectification. Many of them really do protest the objectification that women do to themselves. On the other hand, they argue that no one else has the right to tell them what to do. The criticism is directed at the women themselves, but also at those who try to dictate to them that they should change this. It seems to me that serious feminists usually do dress simply and modestly. Maybe you’re talking about those who make emphatic declarations about feminism, and not about actual feminists.
Discussion on Answer
There could be several reasons. When there’s freedom, people do what they want. The influence of religion is smaller. Women want objectification; they just don’t want others to objectify them.
No, I’m not talking about feminists. I’m talking about the general direction of the female world, which is becoming more and more exhibitionistic and less modest. The claim I want to make is that this is connected to, and dependent on, women’s emancipation. It seems as though the more liberation and equality with men grow stronger, the more objectification and promiscuity also grow stronger.
Do you not feel that?
Maybe in other words, it could be put as a question:
Why is it דווקא now, when women are equal to men, that they try (it’s not conscious, but still) to sell themselves to men (through idealization of the body, and by wearing clothes that cover 10% of their body, etc. etc.)?