The Sacred Veil of Modesty

What is modesty and why should women care about it? The way that modesty is discussed in a modern context often misses the mark by a wide margin. On the one hand, secular progressives often portray modesty as negative thing, something that “the patriarchy” uses to control women. On the other hand, Christian conservatives tend to over-emphasise the need for more and more clothing, with little discernment as to how that is applied. While there are kernels of truth at the root of both approaches, these perspectives are largely ignorant to the real meaning and purpose of modesty.

First of all, modesty is not as clear cut as the pedantic "more clothes good, less clothes bad" mentality of many religious people, who despite good intentions, often make condemnations that are devoid of any meaningful significance. One of the first hurdles we run into with this particular viewpoint when considering modesty is that the primary object of modesty varies widely across historical time periods and cultures, and we quickly find examples that suggest modesty has a symbolic value more than a procreative one. For example, Persian women were primarily concerned with not showing their mouths, such that if a man walked in on them nude and they had only one piece of cloth, they would cover their mouths before their genitals. For Chinese women, it was their feet, which they were often reluctant to show even to their own husbands. There are many examples of this across the world, and we also see displays of modesty among peoples that tend to go nude or mostly nude in daily life.

To show parts of the body that society deems to have a symbolic value in regards to modesty is to imply an opening of oneself—usually sexual. So in some sense, it is true that dressing in an immodest way is an invitation to be leered at. However, it is not the clothing or lack of clothing itself that is at issue in such cases, so much as the lack of bashfulness. Many people mistake the sexual function of modesty for having its own independent ethical or moral character and this is simply not the case.

We cannot necessarily deduce a lack of modesty from a lack of clothing. Consider for example, the same woman who parades shamelessly in a bikini at the beach who, in another context, would also frantically try to hold down her skirt in a gust of wind, lest everyone see her panties. Indeed, women often use clothing to cover parts of themselves in a way that creates mystery and allure, a more seductive and exciting effect than an excessive exposure of skin. The element of bashfulness and its implied innocence is part of the fascination of woman. A woman who openly shows her sexual desire often surprises or disgusts any man who has more than a merely phallic and animalistic nature.

"There are things which we hide only to show them better." -Montaigne

Let us now consider nakedness on its own. There are two symbolic meanings of nakedness. One is simply fecundity, which needs no explanation. The other is what we might call "ultimate nakedness” and this is what modesty relates to. Ultimate nakedness is the state of casting off all that is conditioned. For woman, this means standing as an embodiment of the raw, primordial, chaotic "prakriti"- a dangerous substance! 

This brings into view the ambivalent nature of Eros. On the one hand, it offers an intoxicating and alluring path to transcendence and on the other hand, it brings with it the great risk of a fall and a betrayal of one's higher nature.

Prohibitions and taboos against nakedness stem from the idea that the ultimate nakedness of a woman acts in a deadly way. Diana killed Actaeon with her nakedness, and Athena made Tiresias go blind. The Holy Grail serves the same function— maiming, killing, or sucking into a vortex any who approach it without being worthy. In Tantra, the use of a fully naked woman was not permitted to just anyone. Only high grade initiates were allowed to gaze upon this ultimate nakedness because of the great risk of profanation or even deadly peril.

To a man not fully situated in Being (which is what nakedness in a man represents— the opposite of woman and equally dangerous to her for other reasons), to contact the raw power of the feminine is extremely dangerous. It is being fully situated in Being that not only protects him from the chaotic power of Shakti, but allows him to control it and direct it.