Is modesty important?

The concept of modesty isn't necessarily immediately popular. Besides the misconceptions about what modesty is, the general idea may not feel very exciting to us as young women because it seems to limit us. Becaues of this, it's important to understand just how much our dress affects ourselves and those on our campus.

First, I believe that modesty is vitally important for young women. As our culture continues to lower the standard of dress and raise the standard of flawless bodies, wearing revealing clothing only fuels the problem. These trends are harmful because they lift up an ideal that the majority of young women cannot live up to. Facing pressure to live up to this ideal has created a multitude of problems in our society. Recently, the American Psychological Association did a study on the sexualization of young women. The APA defined sexualization as occurring when “…a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal…a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy…a person is sexually objectified—that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making.” (APA, 2007) Their research used revealing clothing as part of sexualization. The APA studies then tied sexualization to a large number of problems, from self-objectification and shame about appearance to depression, eating disorders, low self-esteem, and the lack of ability to develop sexually in a healthy way. When young women can have a healthy sense of valuing themselves as more than sexual objects, they will have less of these problems. They will be able to function as happy, healthy individuals in our society – and on our campus.

I also believe that modesty of dress will benefit the young men on our campus and I look at this from more than one angle. From the secular angle, the APA research addressed this as well, noting that “Exposure to narrow ideals of female sexual attractiveness may make it difficult for some men to find an ‘acceptable’ partner or to fully enjoy intimacy with a female partner.” Similarly, when a man is around many women every day who dress in revealing ways, it is harder for him to not to create this narrow ideal that may not match the woman in his life. He is exposed to more, so there are more options. From the Christian angle, this ties in with Jesus’ statement that “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28) In other words, a man whose eyes are not kept for the woman God gave him is committing adultery in his heart by sexually appreciating her when he should be saving that for his wife. I believe this would apply to unmarried men as well, because the call to be faithful to a spouse should apply to one’s whole life, not just after you are married.

Lastly, I believe that modesty of dress would benefit the faculty. One faculty member I spoke talked to spoke of the male faculty in particular and their commitment to purity of mind. “It's very uncomfortable for a male teacher to have to ask them to go dress better,” this individual said, “because it generally makes him look like a guy with a ‘dirty mind’, when he's not. The male faculty would be thankful for the girls to get education on dressing more appropriately.” (Anonymous, personal communication, 05 06 2007)

So as I look at the campus as a whole, I believe that modest dress would help create an atmosphere of learning and healthy interaction with less of a focus on appearance and sexual objectification. For us as young women, we need to make conscious choices based on this. It takes unselfishness, but in the long run, it benefits us and everyone around us. Our school, too, needs to recognize tihs and encourage it on our campus.