M is for Modesty

Every now and then, one comes across something ... um ... of interest in the Internet. Like this site for a company that calls itself WholesomeWear. Yes, it's a site where women and girls can buy swimwear which "highlights the face, rather than the body" and which "limits cling". There's a lot of commentary already out there on the whole matter (some rather hotheaded and some more thoughtful).

First, let me say from the get-go that I'm assuming this company caters to a rather specific and conservative audience and it's not my intention to mock anyone's beliefs; however, I do find some things curious about the whole thing.

First of all, I find it curious that covering a whole lot of skin automatically qualifies as wholesomeness. I would like to think that a person's wholesome quotient goes quite a bit deeper than mapping out and quantifying the exposed surface area. But that's really just a small side comment. What I find of particular interest is that the apparent requirement for modesty extends exclusively to women. Ah, yes. I did some further research and it's rather difficult to find any modestywear for men. In fact this site professes to be a listing of "Online Sources of Modest Clothing for the Family: Women, Men, Boys, Girls, Babies, Toddliers, Children, Adults!" and yet, scrolling down and reading through every one of the seventeen listed sites, one finds not a single reference to modest wear for the grown man. Hmmm. (I'm further stymied by the ad at the top of the page for Chinese Girls on the Web, where you can meet "beautiful, decent and sincere Chinese girls seeking love". Perhaps they are all of those things, but somehow the whole meet-a-Chinese-girl-on-the-web-through-chnlove.com seems to clash with the overall tone of the site...)

It's also a bit ironic that a company offering clothing which is meant to highlight the face instead of the body has a slimming line of wear.

I guess this whole thing also gets me because it pretty much excludes women from participating in the more athletic and sporty side of swimming. Testimonials say they're easy to swim in, but they're certainly not athletic wear. Of course, I guess women are expected to "splash" and "paddle" in those suits, not swim laps.

I dunno. To each her own, I suppose, but it sort of smacks of keeping women and children more HIS own instead. Wear what you want, but wear it becase you choose it for yourself...

And I won't even get into the problem I have with THIS site's name, which is about to make me puke.