A return to modesty - Wendy Shalit

At the same time that young women today enjoy the right to unparalleled opportunities, Wendy Shalit argues, there has been a marked increase in sexual harrassment and date-rape. With sex education beginning at school and sexual promisicuity encouraged in the media and at college, it has become almost impossible for a young woman to say 'no' to sex. Those who do are labelled 'repressed' and their desire for romantic love is ridiculed. Is it any wonder that young women today suffer from anorexia, bulimia, and other disorders? In A RETURN TO MODESTY Shalit explores the philosophical debate over modesty and knocks down the accompanying myths one by one. Female modesty is not about a 'sexual double standard', as is often thought, but is related to male virtue and honour. Modesty is not a social construct, but a natural response. And modesty is not prudery, but a way to preserve a sense of the erotic in our lives. By asserting their right to take intimacy seriously, girls can find the happiness they would otherwise be denied in a culture that has discarded the idea of feminine virtue.