Offended by Modesty

While skimming this article about a Sudanese woman on trial for wearing tight pants, it made me think about my own encounter with religiously-imposed modesty during my latest visit to the Columbus Zoo.

While admiring the social and cognitive skills of the bonobos, I was surrounded by the typical obese, mid-Ohio family of five, but also by a Muslim family and a clan of Mennonites. What was interesting about the two religious minority families was that their traditional religious garb actually had the opposite effect than what the wearer intended.

Covering yourself from head-to-toe (even on a hot summer day that is likely to result in an accumulation of clitoral smegma) is supposed to communicate modesty. But what it actually does is draw attention from and offend the typical heterosexual male. Let me explain. One of the reasons for the overabundance of clothes is to avoid sexually exciting male strangers. In other words, denying my eyes of the woman's neck or hairline was the only thing that prevented me from attaining a massive boner and raping her. Luckily, she took precautions by covering herself. However, now thinking back, I wonder how I managed to control my primitive sexual urges around the other women at the zoo who had motorboat cleavage or visible gluteal folds.

In addition, since the garb is not normative in our culture, dressing like you're in Afghanistan or like it is 1659 is only drawing attention. Do these families know that they stick out like a herpes blister on a priest? Unless they are all histrionic, isn't that the opposite of what they want?

And lastly, even if the women are comfortable in their clothing choices, whether it is simply for modesty or to appease their god by not wearing Gap shorts, the women have to be aware of the gender bias inherent in their culture. Why is it acceptable for me to gaze upon the husband's scrotal bulge, but not acceptable for me to see camel toe? Is a scrotum less offensive to god than a labia majora?

Every time I come across religious people doing ridiculous things in order to appease an imaginary tyrant, I always wonder if they ever ask themselves, "What in god's name am I doing?"