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What Has the Feminist Movement Done to Modesty -- And American Girls?
Human Events Online ^ | Feb. 16, 2005 | Linda Chavez

Posted on 02/16/2005 7:35:13 AM PST by MisterRepublican

If you watch a lot of cable television, you've probably seen the ads, especially late at night or early in the morning. The "Girls Gone Wild" videos promise to show you coeds behaving badly on the beach during Spring Break or getting down and dirty at Mardi Gras. The formula is simple: find a group of nubile young things drunk out of their heads and induce them to pull up their T-shirts or pull down their shorts and expose themselves to anyone willing to fork over $19.95 for the privilege. The most recent incarnation features gangster rapper Snoop Dogg hawking fresh, young flesh.

Call me old-fashioned, but I just can't imagine what these girls were thinking when they agreed to "show off their assets," as one knock-off video boasts. These young women aren't pros -- they are not part of the pornographic underworld -- but ordinary teens and twenty-somethings who one day will be wives and mothers. One young girl, who was 17 at the time she allowed herself to be photographed topless, has already sued the producers of "The Guy Game," a video game featuring females in various stages of undress. Her suit claims she did not give a "valid or enforceable consent or release" for photos to be used by the video game makers. "Plaintiff is still a teenager and wishes to attend college, develop her career and be active in her community and church." Good luck.

What is most shocking about this phenomenon is that we're not all that shocked by it. Modesty used to be considered a natural female attribute. No more. Just take a look around next time you're at the mall.

(Excerpt) Read more at humaneventsonline.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: culturewars; fashion; feminists; girls; girlsgonewild; influence; lindachavez; mardigras; media; snoopdogg; teens; theguygame
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To: rockabyebaby
Where? What planet? What country? What year?

In this country, at least, that type of life would have been the norm until at least the 1920's.

The idea of the nuclear family (mom, dad and 2.1 children) living in their own house or apartment is the norm didn't really come about until after WWII.

81 posted on 02/16/2005 9:05:42 AM PST by Modernman ("Normally, I don't listen to women, or doctors." - Captain Hero)
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To: keats5

Excellent point.
We are teaching our daughter the same thing and she hasn't complaint yet.
Have you noticed that they don't make clothes like they used to?
I even have problems finding shirts that go lower than the midriff ,that are still fashionable and not to"old lady"like.I always buy my shirts and my daughters shirts one or two sizes bigger to cover the mid section.


82 posted on 02/16/2005 9:06:42 AM PST by Mrs.Nooseman
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To: Modernman

"The idea of the nuclear family (mom, dad and 2.1 children) living in their own house or apartment is the norm didn't really come about until after WWII."

You're correct. The norm was more the extended family prior to that war. Grandma and grandpa lived upstairs, or downstairs, and maybe the aging maiden aunt, as well.

It seems people have an uninformed view of America in the past.


83 posted on 02/16/2005 9:07:29 AM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: mugs99
Pornograpy was mainstream in the Roaring Twenties. Modesty and censorship evolved during the depression years.

You are completely out to lunch. Books thought to be "dirty" were banned in the 1920's. Today kids can get far racier stuff at any public library.

To claim that "modesty and censorship evolved during the depression years" is absolutely insane.

84 posted on 02/16/2005 9:08:00 AM PST by Campion
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To: Baynative

No!It's every where.


85 posted on 02/16/2005 9:08:12 AM PST by Mrs.Nooseman
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To: Mrs.Nooseman

Do a search for "modest clothing" on any search engine. You can also check out the LL Bean and other catalogs. There's plenty of modest clothing out there. The difficulty may be getting your daughter to choose it.


86 posted on 02/16/2005 9:08:36 AM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: MisterRepublican

....Modesty used to be considered a natural female attribute.....

Female atributes are passe. no fainting spells, no collars to the chin, no babies. The female boduy is her very own to be used or viewed as the owner desires.

The Victorian era has been declared over and gone. It's the liberal way.


87 posted on 02/16/2005 9:08:53 AM PST by bert (Peace is only halftime !)
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To: MineralMan
The deal was that at that time, to swim in the pool you had to use university-provided swim trunks, just like you had to wear university-provided shirts and shorts in the gym. About two hours into the testing, they had run out of dry suits, so they told us we had to do without. On a normal day the laundry facilities could keep up, I guess, but having all of us go through in a matter of hours broke the system.

It was no big deal as we had a large room as a shower anyway - it just felt really strange to swim laps naked having led a sheltered life up until then and never having the opportunity for skinny-dipping. Those mountain streams were just too cold, even in the summer time! *g

88 posted on 02/16/2005 9:10:14 AM PST by NCjim
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To: MineralMan

I know I should consider it the same too, but ech, when I hear feminine voices spewing gutter language, blecchhh... It's an involuntary reaction I can't really explain...


89 posted on 02/16/2005 9:10:24 AM PST by k2blader (It is neither compassionate nor conservative to support the expansion of socialism.)
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To: cyborg
It seems that girls are held up to this high standard but ask the average American guy what he wants and it's usually the sort of gil on the GGW infomercials.

No, that's the type of girl the average guy wants to party with. That doesn't mean she's what we want for a girlfriend or wife (well, maybe as a girlfriend for a few months).

90 posted on 02/16/2005 9:10:29 AM PST by Modernman ("Normally, I don't listen to women, or doctors." - Captain Hero)
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To: 68skylark
A good point. The nostalgic among us need to remember that in the 19th century, many American cities had brothels operating in the open. Calling them "Gentlemen's clubs" didn't make them any less sordid. And what's ultimately worse, a girl lifting her shirt in public or one lifting her skirt in private?
91 posted on 02/16/2005 9:11:09 AM PST by Redcloak (More cleverly arranged 1's and 0's)
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To: Aquinasfan
Not in the Christian West, as far as I know.

The Church used to make money off of brothels run on Church land in the middle ages.

92 posted on 02/16/2005 9:12:46 AM PST by Modernman ("Normally, I don't listen to women, or doctors." - Captain Hero)
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To: maica
Are the boys feeling diminished and 'hiding'?

What you say is possibly true, but I think the baggy clothing is supposed to be so you can hide your gun, and your knife, and your drugs... Course the most common term of endearment these days seems to be "bitch", so you may be on to something.

93 posted on 02/16/2005 9:14:26 AM PST by johnb838 (Evolution is Paganizm.)
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To: newzjunkey
Whoa!! Looks like the chickens are done, lol!


94 posted on 02/16/2005 9:15:12 AM PST by Ignatz ("Scribe of the Unwritten Law". ( Hey, someone's gotta NOT write this stuff down! ))
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To: MineralMan
You're correct. The norm was more the extended family prior to that war. Grandma and grandpa lived upstairs, or downstairs, and maybe the aging maiden aunt, as well.

The way we live in America today is different from how 99% of humanity has lived throughout history. Extended families living in one building was the norm, for rich and poor alike. Your family was your support structure. Kids would be raised by the family as a whole.

In such an environment, I imagine kids would have been exposed to sex at a pretty young age.

95 posted on 02/16/2005 9:16:12 AM PST by Modernman ("Normally, I don't listen to women, or doctors." - Captain Hero)
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To: Redcloak
The nostalgic among us need to remember that in the 19th century, many American cities had brothels operating in the open.

And the vast majority of women regarded everything that went on there with complete disgust. There was prostitution associated with Canaanite idolatry in the Bible, but that doesn't mean that everyone was a prostitute.

And what's ultimately worse, a girl lifting her shirt in public or one lifting her skirt in private?

The comparison is between the vast majority of the girls lifting their shirts in public (and usually doing worse in private) and a few bad apples doing worse in private. IOW, you're telling me I shouldn't care that the culture is trying very hard to turn my daughters into whores because a few girls have always been whores?

I think it's hilarious to hear you guys try to claim that morality isn't going in the sewer in this country -- I've watched the decline in my own lifetime. It's perceptible and dangerous for the future, assuming you want this country to have things like happy kids coming from intact families in the future.

96 posted on 02/16/2005 9:18:14 AM PST by Campion
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To: Modernman

"In such an environment, I imagine kids would have been exposed to sex at a pretty young age."

No doubt, and marriage came pretty early for most people in those days, too. At least for the girls.

A story in the paper here was about a couple celebrating their 80th anniversary. They were 18 and 16 when they married.

The jokes about shotgun weddings go way, way back, too. Kids were having sex back in those "good ol' days," probably at about the same rate as today.


97 posted on 02/16/2005 9:18:49 AM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: Modernman
In such an environment, I imagine kids would have been exposed to sex at a pretty young age.

You mean by hearing or seeing their parents? Big whoop, they certainly weren't taught to act like sluts at 13.

98 posted on 02/16/2005 9:20:03 AM PST by Campion
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To: Campion
Books thought to be "dirty" were banned in the 1920's

Only in Boston. "Banned in Boston" on the cover was commonly used to increase sales. The first legislation banning porn was in the thirties, in Hollywood.
...
99 posted on 02/16/2005 9:20:43 AM PST by mugs99 (Restore the Constitution)
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To: MineralMan

Thanks for the tip.


100 posted on 02/16/2005 9:21:04 AM PST by Mrs.Nooseman
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