What Does The Church Teach On Modest. Rule-no Opinions, Doctrin Only

[Maggyie]

 

However the church has never approved of women exposing there bosom while nursing in public,

 

 

 

I will never forget the time I was in a small village in Ecuador and I saw a woman, bare breasted, openly and not discreetly (no blankets, no covers), nursing her toddler. The scene shocked me for many reasons. First, women are conservatively dressed in Ecuador and don’t show a lot of skin. Second, her child was not an infant, but a toddler. Third, the other Ecuadorans did not blink at the scene. I had to ask myself, why I was so shocked and I realized the answer was quite simple; I had never been exposed to a bare breasted woman nursing her toddler in the United States. It was outside of my experience.

 

This scene would repeat itself during my extensive travels throughout Costa Rica working with poor immigrant communities there. Over time, I became accustomed to the notion that a woman nursing her child was not dirty or sexual, even when she was not being discreet.

 

In America, we still struggle with a woman openly nursing in public.  A few weeks ago, I was in public with my friend–a new mom–and every time she nursed she placed a blanket over her child’s head.  I asked her why she was covering herself and she said “It makes people so uncomfortable to see a baby connected to a female breast.”  She couldn’t have said it better.  In American culture, boobs are purely for sex so we really have a difficult time when we see an innocent child connected to that boob.

 

vox nova

[Basilisa Marie]

I wonder what would happen if we took half the time we spent on telling women that they're immodest trollops and applied it to teaching men custody of the eyes and purity of heart. 

:|

[abrideofChrist]

Maybe this is overkill, but America has always been a land of extremes with some sense in between.  Think of the Pilgrims, the Puritans, the Calvanists and our Hollywood scenes.  Catholic women in other countries who attend the Traditional Latin Mass do not fuss over veils, slacks, or makeup.  They often go bareheaded, in slacks, and gorgeously made up with appropriate cosmetics.  They do not dress in (American) jumpers with socks and sneakers and a shirt, but dress elegantly in skirts or slacks with heels or fashionable shoes.  They don't think it is wrong to wear makeup (now that it isn't associated with prostitutes) and gladly wear it.  Temperance is a good thing.  It is harder and more virtuous to be temperate than it is to eschew wine or food or all clothes not conforming to a strict arbitrary dress code altogether.  Let's face it.  It is easier to totally forgo wine than it is to drink well.  It is easier to have arbitrary rules that the MLM group imposes than it is to figure out what is appropriate for that party, for going ice skating, for that run, for going to the gym, for swimming at the beach, and for Sunday wear.  If I can say that bathing suits are immodest because they don't have sleeves and don't go beyond one's knees, then out goes bathing!  Easy peasy.  No virtue.  If we think everything we have has to be sackcloth and ashes, then I can stand out when I am at a reception for a newly elected mayor because I can smugly assure myself I'm modest in my long sleeve high necked low hem jumper outfit with thick socks and sneakers. I think some people (not necessarily the OP, but many traditionalists I have met) are so fixated on sexual problems and "immodest" clothes that other people wear, that their obsession is in itself immodest.  We're not the modesty police of the less enlightened philosophy of a desert brigand leader. 

[Winchester]

I wonder what would happen if we took half the time we spent on telling women that they're immodest trollops and applied it to teaching men custody of the eyes and purity of heart. 

:|

This, this, and a thousand times this.

 

It says "shut up, idiot", but in a non warnable way.

[Maggyie]

this is one of my favorite images of Our Lady. It's by Jean Fouquet. "Melun Diptych" an oil on panel. painted about 1450.

 

[Basilisa Marie]

This, this, and a thousand times this.

 

It says "shut up, idiot", but in a non warnable way.

 

Lol, I just really think that my fellow women and I wouldn't get so peeved about every modesty conversation if every "Cover yourself!" comment was paired with an "Eyes front, soldier!"  We could talk about the modesty guidelines until the Second Coming (and we will), but I don't think that's the real issue.   Eve may have tempted Adam, but the sin of Adam is just as rampant as the sin of Eve.  The difference is that all we ever hear are sons of Adam pointing the finger.  Maybe if they took responsibility for their own sin, the daughters of Eve would actually care more about helping them out. 

[AnneLine]

I have been pondering how to say this for a while now....  every time 'the quote' has been quoted in recent memory.

 

It would seem to me that each of us has a responsibility to guard our own selves from an occasion of sin.

 

It is called avoiding a near occasion of sin.

 

If the sight of a person of the opposite -- or same sex -- is a cause of temptation, I would recommend these as part of your OWN clothing (i.e. modesty begins with ME):

 

 

[Lil Red]

Lol, I just really think that my fellow women and I wouldn't get so peeved about every modesty conversation if every "Cover yourself!" comment was paired with an "Eyes front, soldier!"  We could talk about the modesty guidelines until the Second Coming (and we will), but I don't think that's the real issue.   Eve may have tempted Adam, but the sin of Adam is just as rampant as the sin of Eve.  The difference is that all we ever hear are sons of Adam pointing the finger.  Maybe if they took responsibility for their own sin, the daughters of Eve would actually care more about helping them out. 

 

props! :)

 

but so sorry, it doesn't count. because that's just, like, your opinion, man. 

 

Edited April 28, 2013 by Lil Red

[Archaeology cat]

Maggie, I love you.

[Archaeology cat]

Nvm

Edited April 29, 2013 by Archaeology cat

[Winchester]

 if a man sees a women that's giving him signals implying she wants to engage in impure acts

 

Oh, if a man sees a woman that's giving him signals implying that she wants to engage in impure acts

I reckon the man might have to resist the temptation to engage in impure acts

 

But baby, oh baby, do you want to engage in impure acts with me?

 

voulez vouz impure acts with me, se soi?

 

Let's talk about impure acts, baby, let's talk about you and me

[Lil Red]

Oh, if a man sees a woman that's giving him signals implying that she wants to engage in impure acts

I reckon the man might have to resist the temptation to engage in impure acts

 

But baby, oh baby, do you want to engage in impure acts with me?

 

voulez vouz impure acts with me, se soi?

 

Let's talk about impure acts, baby, let's talk about you and me

 

oh floop: "You have reached your quota of positive votes for the day"

[homeschoolmom]

Oh goodie. :| Something new and different at Phatmass. :|