It is often remarked how quickly societal standards for decency and modesty have change, and it makes feel old to say I see the differences between how girls dressed when I was in high school and how they do now. In the late ’90s, mid riffs were just showing up (at my school), and more rarely did you see the shiny belly button ring. Now, it’s the modest girls that stand out to me.

I’m halfway through David and Diane Vaughan’s The Beauty of Modesty, and while not endorsing everything they say, it is excellent thus far. Anyone engaged in the act of recovering a Christian culture where propriety and modesty exist for women and men, this is a great resource. Many of the points are familiar to those who have done some thinking on the subject, but the material is well organized and accessible to give to those who haven’t. Men with daughters need to hear things like this:

But what about the adult woman, whether single or married, who is ostentatious or exposing too much flesh? Is she simply ignorant? Well, when we did our unscientific survey, we were struck by the fact that every woman we asked said the same thing: “An immodest woman knows exactly what she is doing. She wants attention.” If this is true, then a woman who intentionally dresses immodestly has one or more of the following problems: insecurity, vanity, or sensuality.

A woman who is looking for attention has an emotional deficit of some sort. She is insecure and thus needs male attention to feel valued. If we are talking about a teenage girl, then the real problem is probably that she is craving the male attention she is not receiving from her father. In the case of a married woman, she is inadvertently advertising the dismal state of her marriage. It is generally true that the motive for promiscuity differs according to gender: men are looking for sex, and women are looking for love. So when a woman dresses immodesty, she may be acting out an emotional desire to feel loved, valued or secure. In other words, there is a problem somewhere in the home. Yet the deeper problem is spiritual.