Modesty in swimsuits

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I understand. I would not want to cause a man temptation but as a woman seeing a woman or even a man’s body exposed too much is not a temptation to me. So what generally do men find tempting in regards to women’s dress?
 
Temptation isnt the same as action. So a guy at the beach gets aroused by some woman in a bathing suit. He finishes his sandwich and rolls over and reads his book. Big deal. No different than any other day. Guys get excited over anything, regardless of where they are.

Should you go to the beach with your boobs hanging out and your crack showing? No. But that doesn’t mean we need to go back to the 1900’s for Beach attire. If a guy isn’t able to manage himself, perhaps he should stay home, or at least stay away from the beach if he is concerned about it.
 
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A woman’s body is desirable in itself - clothing that emphasizes her body (tightness, clinging fabrics, transparent/semitransparent fabrics - bare skin - the more skin that is visible or imaginable, the “sexier” it is, and sadly in this culture “sexy” has become a compliment. It is no compliment to a man or to a woman, to be told “You look sexy!” Being a source of temptation is not a compliment. Here is the Catechism on the sin of scandal:
Respect for the souls of others: scandal
2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor’s tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.
2285 Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”<Mt 18:6; Cf. 1 Cor 8:10-13> Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep’s clothing.<Cf. Mt 7:15>
2286 Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion.
Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice, or to “social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible.”<Pius XII, Discourse, June 1, 1941> This is also true of business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger,<Cf. Eph 6:4; Col. 3:21> or manipulators of public opinion who turn it away from moral values.
2287 Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way that it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly encouraged. “Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!”<Lk 17:1>
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Yes it is serious business - it is satan at work in this confused culture of ours. He seeks to degrade human dignity at every turn, increasingly with every passing generation.
 
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So if “safety” is the concern, and clothing is the problem, why stop there?
 
Plenty of women lust after attractive and fit men. Anyone seen middle aged women on daytime talk shows wooing and cheering over shirtless men? Men in tight pants? Men in grey sweatpants? Male superheroes? We should keep these men in lose tunic-like clothing, preferably a face veil as well 😤

In all seriousness, women’s bodies are over sexualized, more explicitly in recent history. To the point where men will start drooling over calves or shoulders.

Middle Eastern men lust over hair too. As Catholics, modesty guidelines would depend on our culture. Today, form fitting, shorts etc are generally modest (generally, not always) and are common.

However, there’s something to be said about women rebelling against these standards. It may not always be sinful. E.g. Iranian women refusing to cover their heads anymore as protest against gender inequality. A little out of point.
 
LumineDiei said:
Yes, when a skirt such as the one shown in the top photo can easily become heavy and drag someone to the bottom of the pool or the lake/river, it should be a “concern
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I cant remember the last time I read a news story that said, “woman drowned due to wearing too heavy a swimsuit”.
 
Also, modesty is a lot deeper than preventing poor old men from lusting.

If it were, then the Church would prescribe burqas/niqabs at this point. A lot of men talk about how sexy certain items of clothing can be. Items that weren’t intended to arouse. E.g. Sundresses/skirts, pretty sandals.

We use prudence and say that it doesn’t mean such clothing are sinful.

Ultimately modesty starts in the heart. A woman who flaunts her “virtue” by wearing a modest dress would not be more modest than a clueless woman wearing shorts at the gym. What message are you hoping to give? Where is your heart at? Evaluation of the self gives you a better indication of any potential sin. Much better that a set of guidelines.

To be honest, I’m very confused with Christians. We go on and on about how oppressive Muslims are to their women, how burkinis are ridiculous yet many seem to want to adopt their teachings, just without the label of Islam.
 
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Yeah…we will stick to Jessica Rey. Those swimsuits are frumpy imo. Modest, sure. Probably ideal for skin protection for some individuals though.
 
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Lea101 said:
Plenty of women lust after attractive and fit men. Anyone seen middle aged women on daytime talk shows wooing and cheering over shirtless men? Men in tight pants? Men in grey sweatpants? Male superheroes?
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Two wrongs do not make something right. If it is wrong for men to do it, it’s wrong for women.
StephieNorthCo said:
Where are the modest ones for men?
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While I agree that men can be immodest and need to practice more virtue, as women, we need to compare a little less and work on our ownselves.

It seems so many of these conversations always go back to “what about men?”
Wouldn’t it be good if we could just say, “what can we do, as women, to make the situation better?”
 
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MagdalenaRita said:
Two wrongs do not make something right. If it is wrong for men to do it, it’s wrong for women.
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That was not what I said at all… I was pointing out the inconsistencies. That modesty goes beyond what we lust after, otherwise all of our clothing would be strictly regulated.
 
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LumineDiei said:
Especially when commenting about how visual men are and how they are constantly tempted and apparently cannot control themselves when in the presence of women in swimwear.
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LOL, this was what I told my dad.

When he said that liberals are making men look like predators, I responded with a ‘Sure, but remember how you constantly tell me that I couldn’t wear shorts because men would be unable to control themselves and rape me?’

At least he thought my spaghetti legs would cause a commotion. He laughed it off, of course. I guess he realized people on our team can actually put down men, and that liberals basically took the message and ran with it.
 
I sure hope you don’t wear pants as a man… St John the Baptist didn’t wear pants!

Modesty standards are cultural, to a significant extent, and do change.

Modern Muslim women better represent how Our Lady would have dressed, as a first century Middle Eastern woman, than did Western women of even a century ago.
 
Only people push for change. In the United States, there is a promotion for immodesty going on. It is wrong.

A young woman I knew competed in beauty contests. She wore a one-piece bathing suit. Here were her thoughts about bikinis: “Bikinis look like underwear. I don’t want people seeing me in my underwear.”

Beaches are totally off limits for me. I have no desire to see a bunch of women wearing less than underwear. So-called fashion designers promote ‘bold,’ ‘daring,’ and ‘shocking’ clothing. Translation: show more skin. That’s wrong.
 
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