Worthwhile Reads: Modesty Flashbacks

Modesty Flashbacks, Part 1, by Katy-Anne

I got the cane in Christian school when I was five because I dared to bring a naked Barbie to school. I didn’t understand why it was so wrong to bring a naked Barbie, after all, someone had given me that doll and I had no clothes for her, I usually dressed her in my dad’s handkerchiefs. I felt like I was being punished for being poorer than the other girls, who all had the latest fashion clothes for their Barbie. But apparently my Barbie was immodest and she was not welcome at Christian school. It was one of my first experiences with the hyper-modesty crowd. (I guess they think five year old little boys lust after a very well loved Barbie doll).

Modesty Flashbacks, Part 2, by Katy-Anne

My constructed modesty got so extreme that I didn’t shave my legs because I was told that was unnatural and there wasn’t any need to take the hair off my legs at any rate if my legs were covered like they were supposed to be. I was also taught that I was not supposed to make unnatural alterations to my body, which shaving my legs would have been. I was always a rebel though, because they taught me not to shave my underarms and I always did because I didn’t want to smell and I didn’t like the feel, but I always felt like a sneaky, rebellious, child who was purposely breaking the rules. I just hoped that God would forgive me somehow, even though I was cheating on “his” modesty rules.