I watched this video of Jessica Rey, the swimsuit designer, giving a
presentation on the history of the bikini (which at the time of its
inception was considered so indecent that the man who designed it
had to hire a stripper to model it) and how this type of skimpy
swimwear really didn't become acceptable in the mainstream until the
sexual revolution. (Which must just be an historical coincidence. Of
course there's no way the "free love" era had anything at all to do with a change in public standards of decency...)
We've all heard it: parents, feminists, even the media itself, at times, complain about our culture and how it objectifies women, portraying them as mere sex objects whose worth is wrapped up in ability to prove themselves capable of (sexually) captivating a man. We bash a culture that pushes girls to act and dress provocatively at younger and younger ages, that places emphasis on a woman striving to look sexy above all else, that makes women slaves to fashion's whims and dictates...
... and then someone comes along with some sort of solution. And the response?
"They're trying to make women revert back to some rigid 19th-century code! Gasp! And then next they're going to force everyone to don burqas at the beach!"
I'm serious. Much of the dialogue (wait - "dialogue?" "Emotional diatribe" would be more like it) I read in and following articles replying to the video had essentially this sort of reasoning: "If Jessica Rey and others like her aren't stopped, we're soon going to be living under some sort of Islamic law! She wants to take away women's freedom to dress and live the way they want!"
Now, seriously. Did any of those people take the time to actually look at her website?
Go ahead, take a look.
Do any of those suits even hint at the burqa-look? Do all the women modelling them look like repressed, bound females? Her suits are very modern, chic and and show off a woman's figure, yet without showing everything.
And honestly? Her message contained nothing about forcing anyone, anywhere, to do anything. She simply wanted people to rethink what has become expected - and to give women an alternative to the idea that they must bare everything and leave nothing to the imagination to be fashionable and attractive.
Oh, yes. The other accusation? That Jessica Rey is somehow blaming women for men's lust. What? Somehow I missed that part. Watched it several times, and didn't actually hear her mention this at all.
She did cite a study about men's brains and their response to women in skimpy costume. That study got a lot of hate mail as well, primarily from women, who still can't seem to accept that men, in spite of years of brainwashing, still have brains wired quite differently than women's. As one reporter put it, she thinks the study just means that there are "deficiencies in some men’s brain functioning." Take it or leave it, but a woman's body in almost no fabric is inherently sensual in nature, and will be viewed as such by most red-blooded American males. This isn't a statement of blame, just a statement of fact. No one is going to stop her if she wants to be objectified and wants to dress like a skank or wear almost nothing to the pool - this is a free country after all - but it should be considered by women who might want to ponder that their choices - the choices that their mothers fought for in the 60's and 70's - have consequences, not all of them positive.
And no, I didn't lose the memo - I know flaunted sensuality is indeed perfectly acceptable in today's society - and while I don't think God has changed His mind and blessed this as of yet, let's still call it what it is. And let's also grow up and accept that a woman dressed provocatively (and by that, I mean what is considered provocative by our culture's standards) will be viewed as a sexual object by many, whether or not she wants to be viewed as such. That is the intention of a culture that values perversion and selfish gratification above all else, and that is the intention of a fashion industry that intentionally dresses women the way it does. Choosing to cover up more doesn't mean one need fall into some sort of legalistic trap. It simply means to make a choice, by a quiet action, to refrain from participating in a world that is given over to worship of something that will only be destructive in the end.
"It's not about covering ourselves because our bodies are bad... it's about covering ourselves to reveal our dignity."
- Jessica Rey
