{"id":3365,"date":"2013-09-14T12:26:29","date_gmt":"2013-09-14T19:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newcoolthang.com\/?p=3365"},"modified":"2020-01-09T04:26:19","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T11:26:19","slug":"recovering-modesty-old-wisdom-for-a-new-era-new-approach-to-modesty-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newcoolthang.com\/index.php\/2013\/09\/recovering-modesty-old-wisdom-for-a-new-era-new-approach-to-modesty-series\/3365\/","title":{"rendered":"Recovering Modesty, Old Wisdom for a New Era \u2013 New Approach to Modesty Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the fifth post in the New Approach to Modesty series.\u00a0 Click for\u00a0post one<\/a>,\u00a0post two<\/a>,\u00a0post three<\/a>, and post four<\/a><\/i><\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve noted before<\/a> that LDS speakers and writers occasionally point out that modesty is much more attitude than dress code, but whether dress code or attitude, today\u2019s modesty probably doesn\u2019t qualify as a virtue.\u00a0 Based on how they\u2019re constructed, modesty guidelines conflate being<\/i> modest with appearing<\/i> modest.\u00a0 And since appearing modest generally satisfies communal standards, modesty falls short of a quality of character and, subsequently, a real virtue.<\/p>\n

The emphasis on appearing modest sets modesty apart from other cherished Mormon values.\u00a0 Few youth leaders would teach youth that in order to be faithful they have to appear faithful.\u00a0 Modesty teachers, however, do follow this process.\u00a0 While I\u2019ve spent a considerable time critiquing current modesty rhetoric, the main goal of this series is to establish an alternative meaning for modesty that avoids the negative elements currently attached to it.\u00a0 My intent in this post is to lay out a modesty that is primarily a quality of being but also gives some guidelines on appropriate dress.\u00a0 To do this, let\u2019s return to what modesty meant before the English humanists radically altered its meaning.
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\nAs I noted last time<\/a>, Thomas Elyot introduced modesty into English in The Boke Named the Governour<\/i>, a moral manual instructing youth on how to become mature adults.\u00a0 Elyot explained modesty through three examples, which I\u2019ll explain through scenarios:<\/p>\n

1) “\u2026he that forbears to speak, all though he can do it both wisely and eloquently, by cause neither in the time nor in the hearers he find the opportunity, so that no fruit may succeed of his speech\u2026”<\/p>\n

Suppose you are at a work party with a group of colleagues discussing something controversial, say politics.\u00a0 They all agree that the president is wrong for doing something that he didn\u2019t actually do.\u00a0 You could correct them, but studying out the situation, you see that you will probably only make a tense conversation into a heated one that won\u2019t serve anyone\u2019s interests.\u00a0 Letting the discussion pass without comment displays modesty.<\/p>\n

2) “\u2026[he] punishes an offender less than his merits do require, having regard to the weakness of his person, or to the aptness of his amendment.”<\/p>\n

Now suppose that you are leaving the work party, and as you walk to your car you see a boy crash into it with a skateboard leaving a small scrape on the door.\u00a0 The boy is profusely apologetic, and judging by his age and grubby appearance, he\u2019s probably unable to pay for damages.\u00a0 Letting him leave is an exercise in modesty.<\/p>\n

3) “\u2026where in [giving], is had consideration as well of the condition and necessity of the person that receives, as of the benefit that comes of the gift received.”<\/p>\n

A week after the party you go to the shoe store to get some new shoes.\u00a0 Coincidentally, the skater boy is sitting next to the store wearing frayed, ripped tennis shoes.\u00a0 After you find out his shoe size, you buy him a new pair, knowing he needs them and will likely wear them through.\u00a0 This is being modest.<\/p>\n

Elyot’s modesty may seem strange, especially given the last example, which seems to have little to do with any modern notion of modesty.\u00a0 Today, when modesty doesn’t refer to dress, it means having subdued reactions or emotions.\u00a0 Elyot carefully distinguished between being subdued and being modest.\u00a0 He noted that be subdued is to be meek, an understanding we share today.\u00a0 On the other hand, modesty means making sound judgments to benefit others.<\/i><\/p>\n

Applying Elyot\u2019s modesty to dress guidelines, modesty paradoxically means almost the exact opposite of what contemporary modesty rhetoricians advise.\u00a0 Contemporary modesty requires that we dress a certain way, even if dressing that way puts us at odds with normal, community expectations.\u00a0 Elyot\u2019s modesty suggests that we dress inoffensively but appropriate for the situation.\u00a0 For example, current modesty rhetoric would never allow a young woman to wear short shorts, but Elyot\u2019s modesty would make them okay on, say, a picnic in August.\u00a0 Thus, while leaving the door open for differences of opinion, modesty is the virtue that promotes using sound judgment in ambiguous situations.<\/p>\n

Even in LDS rhetoric we find traces of modest dress based on Elyot\u2019s modesty.\u00a0 For example, LDS standards hold that uncovered shoulders for women are immodest, which, taken at face value, should rule out virtually all swimsuits.\u00a0 But modesty rhetoricians qualify modesty standards to allow many of these swimsuits.\u00a0 For LDS standards, swimwear serves as a practical exception to the rule.\u00a0 Understanding Modesty the way Elyot did suggests that swimwear is not an exception to modesty, but a manifestation of how modesty works: dressing appropriately for the circumstance and for the benefit of others; again, dressing inoffensively but appropriately.<\/p>\n

A strong criticism against Elyot\u2019s modesty (or rather, my rendition of Elyot\u2019s modesty) is that youth often have a very different idea of what\u2019s appropriate and inoffensive than what adults do.\u00a0 A large part of modesty education would have to center around teaching youth how to identify extremes and how to make reasonable judgments.\u00a0 Even if youth aren\u2019t typically good at either of those, modesty education is a helpful way to introduce those kinds of judgments.\u00a0 And it\u2019s a helpful way to teach youth, and adults, how to adapt to shifts in what\u2019s appropriate and inoffensive.\u00a0 Where current modesty adopts arbitrary standards that eventually require further arbitrary adjustment, Elyot\u2019s modesty teaches how to moderately adapt to shifting environs.<\/p>\n

Elyot\u2019s modesty still allows people to harshly judge others based on their modesty, a negative element to current modesty education.\u00a0 If someone acts or dresses immodestly, others will still see it, and no doubt comment on it.\u00a0 But taking away the strange notion that modesty directly influences chastity avoids at least some of the impetus to make false inferences about a person\u2019s appearance.\u00a0 Either way, Elyot\u2019s modesty takes the emphasis away from satisfying the guidelines of a modest appearance to developing a modest character.<\/p>\n

[For those interested, because of time constraints, I\u2019m indefinitely closing this series. \u00a0But since the final two posts deal with a different, but related topic, this serves as a convenient stopping point anyway.]