The Madness of Modesty Doctrine

And How We Can Progress Beyond Them.

There is a saying within progressive circles that “Nudity empowers some, modesty empowers others”. That may be true but, if one really thinks about it, who is really more empowered, the one who requires an external safeguard or one whose empowerment comes purely from within?

Modesty Doctrine can be many things, actual doctrine of religious or legal texts that dictate what is acceptable. It can also be an unwritten social consensus on the amount of skin that can or cannot be uncovered. These doctrines vary from place to place, country to country, even city to city. Failure to comply to whichever standard is acceptable can get you harassed, attacked, or even jailed. [1] [2]

All of this is, of course, is far more common for women than men, who tend to get off with much less restrictions than their female counterparts. Keep your shorts on and guys should be able to avoid the modesty police, for the most part. It’s also worth noting the great majority of these doctrines happen to be written by men, perhaps that’s just a coincidence.

Has anyone really stopped to see how ridiculous this is from an international standpoint?

Supporters of the multitude of modesty doctrines the world over will say for a women to not abide leads her to unwanted attention, and even sexual violence. [1] [2] So for protection, she should comply. Yet when we examine the reality within our world today these claims are more than dubious.

How can a woman be topless in southern France, just like her male counterpart, and receive little attention yet be harassed in full hijab on the streets of Cairo? Perhaps modesty is not really about state of dress at all, perhaps it is just about the overall cultural conditioning we have all learned to accept, for better or worse.

If the western world can go from ankle-covering bathing gowns, all the way to bikinis and even topless equality in some places, surely we can advance beyond modesty doctrine internationally. Some may think #freethenipple is silly, or #NoHijabDay is “Islamophobic”…