Without Religion, Modesty is Seriously Out of Style

My high-school has recently enforced a dress code. As you can imagine, this has stirred up a lot of conversation amongst my peers about how people should dress and what is and isn’t appropriate. Dress code is a topic about which many teens feel strongly. In recent years, dress codes have been scrutinized by teens as misogynistic and hurtful, particularly to young women. 

What I’ve learned, though, is that controversy around dress codes stems from the issue of modesty. Modesty is a topic that has seen a lot of change in recent years.

In the US, dressing modestly is seriously out of style. The trendy outfits for teens today typically show far more skin than the trendy outfits of the past. As a teenage girl, I notice all the time that the trendy outfits that everyone wears are becoming more and more revealing. I often feel pressure to wear less modest outfits just because they are trendy.

Many people argue that it is empowering for women to show more skin. For example, dress codes are scrutinized for controlling girls just because boys can’t control themselves and their thoughts. Because of this, dressing in revealing clothing represents girls taking back control from the men telling them how they should dress.

The truth is, females wearing inappropriate clothing isn’t going to solve the problem of men over-sexualizing females. The real focus should be on teaching men how to better respect women, rather than teaching women to treat themselves the way bad men do. 

When talking to some of my friends about the new dress code at my school, we mostly agreed on the idea that girls shouldn’t be forced to dress a certain way, but should want to dress in a way that respects themselves and the environment they are in (such as a school). Unfortunately, this is not what the culture is teaching young women today. 

The culture is teaching girls that dressing in revealing clothing is a form of protest towards men. But the first and actionable step to protesting men’s actions is to teach women to respect themselves, and not feel like their value is held in their physical appearance and the way they dress.

Respect and modesty are values that stem from the value of purity. When most of us hear purity, we generally think of sexual purity in a religious context. Purity can mean many things, though, from sexual purity to cleanliness to how we think and act. Purity is a moral value that is disappearing, along with the disappearance of religious values in the USA.

I wrote an article about how morality in the US is changing because of a decrease in religion. A similar thing is happening around purity and modesty. Without religion and religious values, purity and modesty aren’t presented as important moral values. In addition, the idea that women sexualizing themselves will stop men from sexualizing women will backfire and have devastating effects on our culture, particularly on the way young women view their own bodies.

Right now, our culture is presenting the idea that women have to use their bodies in order to get attention and be successful, especially in the entertainment industry, and this is supposed to be empowering. We can see this in today’s hit songs and music videos, and the fact that the music industry is becoming an industry where the most shockingly inappropriate song is the one that wins (for example, take the hit song “WAP” by Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion). 

Girls should have respect for themselves and not feel like their bodies need to be exploited in order to have worth. Clothing trends shouldn’t be synonymous with showing a lot of skin, because this can cause girls to develop body image issues and feel like their bodies need to look and be revealed in a certain way.

It is important that we don’t forget the moral values of purity, modesty, and respect that have been greatly influenced by religion. In order for our culture to flourish and instill values of respect for both men and women, we have to realize that there is value in the way we dress because it shows the respect we have for ourselves and the environment in which we live. Embracing modesty and respect for our bodies will stop the over-sexualizing of women and will allow women to know that their self-worth and recognition is not found in the way they present their bodies.