This was a guest post for Elizabeth Hillgrove's "Bikini, Biki-no" series on Startling the Day. Thank you for hosting!
Coming from a (beginner's level) Theology of the Body perspective, I seek to point out the general reason and purpose of modesty, and how it fits into deciding on a swimsuit.
At
times, when the topic of modesty comes up in discussion, it quickly becomes a
debate over which gender bears the most responsibility. Should the most modest
women walk around completely covered? Or, should the most honorable men walk
around blind-folded? What about modesty for men? Should they be covered too? I
think that this “responsibility debate” both dodges and underplays the real
issue at hand, which is the intrinsic value of our bodies.
Our
bodies are intrinsically valuable because we are human persons. The value of
our bodies does not come from ourselves or from others. The value of our bodies
comes from our creator, in whose own image we are made. To deny the dignity of
our body is to deny God. Our dignity is directly derived from God, and without
God, there is no source for human dignity.
It
is appropriate to consider the proper treatment of our bodies in light of this
very fact. Because our bodies have such value, Karol Wojtyla tells us, “the
role of ... the means to an end determined by a different subject is contrary
to the nature of a person.”(1) This
means that the use of one person’s body by another for the purpose of pleasure
or gain is contrary to the dignity of the person. We are told in Theology of
the Body that the opposite of love is, in fact, not hate, but use. It is our
responsibility not to encourage the use
of our own body or that of another as a mere object. To do so is a profanation
of the human body. Lust is the common name of that act of using the human body
as an object.
What
does it mean to use the body as an object? “Objectification” is defined
(dictionary.com) as “to present as an object, especially of sight, touch, or
other physical sense.” In this definition, the first emphasized sense is that
of sight. I think one of the easiest and most clear means of presenting one's
body as an object occurs in situations in which that body is scantily clad.
Scant clothing automatically sexualizes the body, and invites others, people
you don't even know, to use your body for pleasure. It makes the body into a
tool for a purpose, a means to an end. Use is still use, even if it is visual
rather than physical. Our bodies are too inherently dignified to be subjected
to such a purpose.
Modesty
is not about shame. It is not about being ashamed of our bodies, as if they
should not be admirable. Modesty is about dignity and reverence. We are created
in the image and likeness of God. Our bodies are so very admirable, that they
cannot and should not be reduced to common usage as objects. When we clothe our
bodies, we need to take this fact into consideration. Are we presenting our bodies
in a way that conveys as well as engenders respect, or are we presenting our
bodies as objects for use?
Modesty
is not about whose responsibility it is to cover up or not to look. Modesty is
a recognition and a declaration of one's own dignity; the sanctity of one's own
body. The holiest part of the Jewish
temple was always veiled, not because of shame, but because of reverence. Likewise with our bodies, which we cover, not
by reason of shame, but by reason of reverence.
Fulton Sheen called it "reverence for the mystery" and
lamented its loss in the modern world.
To present the body in a bikini may risk unveiling what should be hidden
and inviting for use and profanation that which should be reverenced.
(1) Karol Wojtyla, Love and Responsibility, (San Francisco:
Ignatius Press, 1993), 28.
