Is the culture of modesty slowly dying?

[DeSales111]

Just think about the number of college girls who get raped. . . . If they go to a party dressed immodestly, the young men immediately think she is “easy”. . . . Now they might have designs on a consensual encounter. . . . but that’s also the context in which date rape can occur, a terrible scourge in which an encounter that is consensual to a certain extent becomes non-consensual as a man tries to push the envelope of misguided intimacy. Things become even in our modern-day “hook-up” culture.

Each rape case is different, . . . but there are some things a women can do to reduce the likelihood of her being a victim, particularly regarding date rape, i.e., when the assailant is known. Cultivating the virtues of chastity and modesty is key, as is seeking out holy men who excel in those virtues.

. . . . Know that we are living in one messed-up world and there is . . . danger . . . out there. There is a reason why I don’t leave my front door open when I leave the house. . . . That is, we can take preemptive measures to reduce the likelihood of our being victims of crimes. It’s a both/and, not an either/or.

 

[Elf01]

Each rape case is different, the simple answer is to use common sense. Know that we are living in one messed up world and there is a huge “stranger danger” out there. There is a reason why I don’t leave my front door open when I leave the house.

I think it’s more common for the rapist to be someone the victim knows.

 

[Irishmom2]

think about the number of college girls who get raped, and mostly unreported. They go to a party dressed immodestly and the young men immediately think she is “easy”. She will be the number one target because of the message she is sending by the way she is dressed.

You are making a lot of erroneous presumptions here.
Again, rape is not about what a woman wears. 70 year old women have been raped. Women wearing winter coats have been raped.

Basically your post is just another version of blaming the victim.

 

[Peeps]

What is “modest dress?”

Our girls used to get criticized by people in our Evangelical Protestant church because they wore typical figure skating dresses when they practiced and competed.

This is not done to look sexy, but to reduce drag so that the skater can skate with more speed and rotate the big jumps.

Depending on their sport, female athletes wear some pretty tight, figure-revealing outfits–are these immodest?

Of course not!

There are people who, because of their background and daily environment, find many different apparel options for women “immodest.”

E.g., “tightness” or a “tight shirt or dress”–what exactly is this? I almost always wear baggy clothing–since childhood, even when I was a toddler, I have been uncomfortable in anything “tight,” especially around the neck. To me, a turtleneck would be sheer torture. I also hate anything tight around my arms or my stomach. So my clothing is baggy, and my husband and kids are constantly tell me, “That outfit is way too big!”

But most women prefer to wear clothing that is “form-fitting,” or, to be more correct, fits them well! Are they immodest because their clothing outlines their curves?

There are societies in which showing any part of a woman’s face except the eyes is considered immodest.

But there are also societies that don’t even notice when a woman wears a leotard and nothing else–e.g., the world of dance or figure skating. People don’t notice it there, or if they do, they learn to not notice it because EVERYONE in the room is wearing the same type of clothing.

When it comes to being more “at risk” because of what you wear, I don’t buy this. Women are at risk for rape when males who rape have an opportunity to rape and they take that opportunity. E.g., when a rapist is able to break into a house (or sometimes walk right in because the woman accidentally forgets to lock her door. The rapist may not have ever SEEN the woman who lives there, but he took the opportunity.

Some women are raped at work when they are working late and are alone in their office or at their worksite. They were wearing work clothing–a business suit, or jeans/tshirt (factory).

Good heavens, many rape victims are elderly women who are long past looking sexy in any outfit ! (And I’m 63, so don’t chastize me here! I know that there are many elderly women who look very sexy and beautiful, but I’m talking about a typical elderly woman who wears flannel jammies to bed and needs to put in her teeth to hold her face shape!).

Men who rape are SICK and TWISTED in their minds, and have allowed themselves to be totally ruled by the Evil One who is able to tempt them to rape because of the deviant sickness that is already in the man’s mind. A decent, well-formed man will NOT rape a woman, even if he does become aroused by her appearance. A rapist has something WRONG with him, possily because of flaws in his upbringing, or perhaps because he has given himself over to sin and evil instead of trying to overcome it.

Modesty is what is appropriate in any particular culture, and it will vary according to cultures.

 

[Salibi]

What matters is how the potential rapist will view an immodestly dressed female.

Modestly dressed females have been raped. Muslim women dressed from head to toe in black chador complete with a see-through veil have been raped while performing the Hajj pilgrimage rites in Mecca.

No matter what women wear, someone will try to rape them. This is because the problem is the rapist, not the woman’s choice of dress.

 

[JulianN]

A million likes.

 

[Pitcairn17]

Didn’t both Pius XI and Pius XII condemn women participating in sports because of the inherently immodest clothing that such sports required? What happened to those teachings?

 

[Bruised_Reed]

They weren’t teachings of the Catholic church, but rather the opinions of some, including those popes.

 

[Miiiils]

I agree that the rapist is in the wrong.

I would also like to add that she wasn’t helping her situation if she was wearing skimpy clothes.

 

[Miiiils]

You certainly aren’t doing yourself any favors by dressing immodestly in certain situations.

Wearing a bikini at a pool bar late on a Saturday night? hm…