Disturbing


Whatever happened to modesty? Privacy? Oh, I guess we gave that up when we all rushed to wear string bikinis and be naked in public as much as possible. My bad.

So now if you fly the friendly skies, you just might get SCANNED!

(But it is kinda cool in a weird, futuristic sort of way...as long as it's not MY blubber getting scanned.) Here's the article.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Tom Friedman said in the NYT a couple of years ago that the only way to fly safely was to be naked. Now mostly we would think that an occasion to sin but when I imagined it all I could think of was utterly cringing. Perhaps it would work... or perhaps more of us would fine more attractive things at home...
RevMartin said…
I run into problems of modesty in my parish all the times. Girls will often come to Mass wearing inappropriate clothing, but then some women want to take it too far and are more prudish than prudent.

I think we need to be very careful when dealing with this issue to not judge others. Modesty is often a cultural issue and what one society sees as immodest might not be seen as such by another. Once John Paul the Great assisted at Mass in Africa where a topless woman read the Epistle. In her culture that wasn't seen as immodest.

Just as people who watch pornography aren't well, neither are those who treat the body as if it's something disgusting -- hence the remark about prudishness over prudence.

Hope that helps. Peace.
Umm, wow, that's really disturbing. I mean, I'm all about airline safety, but...I dunno. Surely there's another way. I thought it was especially odd that the passengers in the USA Today article said that they weren't told what it was before they were asked to go in it.
Alana said…
Dear Rev. Martin,

I know that prudishly dressed women are not pretty to look at. But I maintain that each woman has a right to dress as modestly as she desires and feels comfortable doing. It's not like prudery is an affront to others or a sin against others in the same way that immodesty is. It's just aesthetically unappealing, that's all. So, who says we each of us HAVE to be perfectly beautiful all the time?

And face it, some people are going to come across slightly frumpy no matter what they are wearing. Some of us just can't help it no matter how hard we try to be prudent and pretty and all that.

Now, I don't think I fall into that trap all the time, mind you, but I have had my moments, and plenty of them, over the years.

Be kind to everyone. Even the ugly ones.
Has said…
When we're talking modesty, no-one ever mentions men's clothing. It's really seen as a women's issue. It's really important that women aren't excessively focused on how they look. I looked at a whole lot of research last year on body image, and it was fascinating.

If you think your appearance is highly important, then you become self-conscious a lot of the time (we all know that feeling, don't we ladies!) and then we begin to live life from the outside, like a person looking in on our bodies - meaning we always think about how other people are seeing us. And when we are self-conscious and thinking about our appearance, we waste brain cycles.

Hence the research finding that women randomized to wear a bathing suit did worse in math tests than women randomized to wear trackpants and sweater. So we could surmise that one should never do a math test in one's swimsuit. Or we could surmise that women are conditioned to worry excessively about their appearance. Or both.

Anyway, who doesn't love those days when we don't even care what we're wearing as long as it's comfortable? Who wants to worry about whether we're striking the right balance of modesty minus the prudery? Of course most of us do like to look nice when we can. But it shouldn't be a top priority. That's what I think, anyway.
RevMartin said…
I'm sorry, I think there is more to the story than I realize. I wasn't talking about you and, as a priest, I certainly don't advocate women wearing immodest clothing.

Perhaps I should keep my opinions to myself, which is what my father confessor tells me all the time.
::Sylvia:: said…
I read this article awhile back but hadn't heard anything about it again until now. All I know is I will REFUSE! Airline safety? It's wonderful in theory, but the last 2 times I traveled the non-English speaking security guy, who were in their mid-20's, barely even looked at anything in my bag, instead they decided to frisk my 1 1/2 year old. I'm sure they'll get a kick out of seeing what every woman who passes through looks like naked. They can count me out as an air traveler if this is where we are headed.

RevMartin,
As far as judging others who are dressed immodestly, let's not fall into this false sense of love, saying that something is improper or immodest is not judging someone. It's simply stating that something is wrong and in our day and age we need to start standing up and voicing what we believe is wrong. In Africa things are different, you can't compare a tiny village in a third world country to America.
Alana said…
Dear Rev. Martin,

forgive me if I came across snarky in my response to what you wrote. I did not mean to.

Yeah, I'll admit I have big huge gorilla sized issues surrounding the subject of modesty, versus immodesty etc. My own baggage, and fortunately God's given me a good priest to help me in confession.

I pray for priests, and I will pray for you. Pray for me, a sinner.