{"id":25193,"date":"2015-03-29T10:59:10","date_gmt":"2015-03-29T14:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=25193"},"modified":"2015-03-29T10:59:10","modified_gmt":"2015-03-29T14:59:10","slug":"the-modesty-rules-not-so-simple-really","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/03\/the-modesty-rules-not-so-simple-really.html","title":{"rendered":"The Modesty Rules—Not So Simple, Really"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I often heard, growing up, that dressing modestly wasn\u2019t about rules, it was about the heart attitude. In other words, if you were focused on the right thing\u2014on God\u2014you would naturally dress modestly, without having to run through a list of rules. You wouldn\u2019t even think about wearing short shorts, or showing your midriff, or wearing clothing that accentuates your bust.<\/p>\n

Of course, all of this ignores the fact that dressing in unapproved ways does not actually require intent to lead young men astray. Because that\u2019s the argument, isn\u2019t it\u2014that women wear revealing clothing out of an explicit desire to attract male attention? But that\u2019s frequently not the case. I wear tank tops every day when it\u2019s warm enough not because I want to lead men astray but rather because I find sleeves extremely<\/em> uncomfortable. I personally like clingy clothing, but not because it accentuates my figure\u2014I like it because it\u2019s what feels most comfortable to me.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not dressing \u201cimmodestly\u201d that takes conscious thought and intent, it\u2019s dressing \u201cmodestly.\u201d\u00a0As a result,\u00a0attempts to claim that evangelical purity culture\u2019s modesty standards aren\u2019t \u201clegalism\u201d or rules-based\u00a0are at base hollow.<\/p>\n

I was struck by a recent post<\/a> by blogger Kate Schell. In it, she tried to explain, for outsiders, what the non-rule modestly rules look like, in practice. Here is how she explained what it looks like for the girls inside:<\/p>\n