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<p>Long and lean skirts paired with knitted cardigans and jackets are not just the favorite uniform of modest girls, it’s the fall’s new trendy look...</p>

In recent years what with acceptable fashion standards taking a major plunge (literally) into the realm of 'anything goes', young women are left to face conscious decisions in how they dress themselves, not realizing the weight that such decisions carry. Speaking to youth in Australia on July 18, Pope Benedict XVI mentioned modesty as he told of how becoming fully human means rejecting those voices that lead us into worshipping 'false gods.' "People sometimes treat others as objects to satisfy their own needs rather than as persons to be loved and cherished. How easy it is to be deceived by...

Backstage before dress rehearsal, 14-year-old Mary Nye looks at the clothes she will model at the Pure Fashion Show. ”I would wear these,“ says Nye, scanning a rack of blouses and dresses. The recent graduate of St. Mel's Catholic School in Fair Oaks, Calif., usually has a hard time finding something to wear. ”When you go to the stores, all they have are clothes that show a lot of skin,“ says Nye, who is dressed in her usual after-school uniform of jeans and T-shirt over a tank top. ”I don't feel comfortable with that.“ A lot of people don't. Low-cut...

Strapless Commencement by: Deborah Lambert, June 30, 2008 While the San Jose Mercury News reports that middle-school girls want to look like top models at their graduation ceremonies, principals apparently still frown on the “Lolita look.” Education writer Joanne Jacobs reports that while “at one middle school graduation, halter tops are okay, spaghetti straps aren’t. At another, it’s the reverse. Strapless dresses and high heels are banned at most intermediate schools....

We live in times when blatant immodesty is rampant. Everywhere we are bombarded with intimate sexual details of the lives of strangers.... It is human nature to oscillate from one extreme to another. Lady-like clothes have been replaced by either scanty attire or boyish sportswear, as Genevieve Kineke ponders in her book The Authentic Catholic Woman: The everyday dress of women should work to their advantage and call to mind the inherent dignity of a child of God. There is tremendous latitude in style today, but few current fashions really flatter women. From the nearly indecent clothing once restricted...

In June, Brooke Ryan walked into a Nicholasville Road Applebee's restaurant to celebrate an anniversary lunch with her children. She walked out humiliated, in tears and without the lunch. But the incident over breast-feeding her 7-month-old son at Applebee's has spurred the soft-spoken 34-year-old to start a public awareness campaign on the rights of breast-feeding women in Kentucky. "On a small scale, I want Applebee's to change its policy," Ryan said. "On a large scale ... I want breast-feeding to be accepted." The dispute with Applebee's began June 14. Ryan chose a booth in the back of the restaurant away...

Earlier this year, I got the call that every author pines for. Wendi Wan, a producer from the "Dr. Phil" show, alerted my publisher that the daytime pop psychologist wanted to design a program around my new book, "Girls Gone Mild: Young Women Reclaim Self-Respect and Find It's Not Bad to Be Good." They would need copies straightaway, and soon I was subjected to an hour-long interrogation. To my great relief, I passed the inquest, and my appearance on "Dr. Phil" was confirmed. Yet the producers required others to appear with me, and they needed my help. And so, for...

Its five strands of diamonds covered her decolletage and made the Queen's jewels look quite modest as they attended the Queen's banquet for the Commonwealth Heads of Government in Kampala, Uganda, on Friday. But Camilla didn't deliberately set out to overshadow her mother-in-law - the Queen gave her permission to borrow it from the royal collection. Camilla's favourite couturier, Anna Valentine, designed her a simple duck-egg blue dress and matching stole to set off the necklace, estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars. The Duchess added the Queen Mother's Boucheron tiara, a set of diamond earrings and...

Eight years ago, a young writer named Wendy Shalit took the culture by storm with a radical book called A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue. While many people embraced the idea of a return to modesty—especially the young women whose struggles and aspirations Shalit wrote about—others were appalled. “I knew that my arguments . . . might be challenged,” Shalit recalls now, “but nothing prepared me for the tongue-lashings I would receive from my elders. . . . [Feminist writer] Katha Pollitt called me a ‘twit.’ . . . The Nation solemnly foretold that I would ‘certainly be...

The weather's getting warmer and necklines are dipping lower -- sometimes, too low. From the beach to the mall to the office, women seem to be showing off their cleavage more than ever before. Why? According to Elisabeth Squires, author of "Boobs: A Guide to Your Girls," American breasts are getting bigger while shirts are getting smaller. "We are seeing more cleavage these days for a few reasons. First, the fashion of the day is tight and skinny. At the same time, women are bigger than they were even 15 years ago. Bra fitters tell me that an E cup...

The sin of immodesty is not a light matter. Nor is it a problem that can be isolated to this or that individual. We are God’s covenant people, and we worship Him together. We live together. Modesty in Christian women is therefore a very obvious indicator of whether or not a Christian people understand who they are. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works (1 Tim. 2: 9-10) We should perhaps begin...

Modesty and menace Barbara Kay National Post Wednesday, October 25, 2006 MONTREAL - Last week, while being buffed for an interview on a French-language TV talk show, I observed a quartet of young Muslim women trooping in for their touch-ups. They were amateur models who, in the segment following mine, would serve as visual accompaniment to a commentator's discourse on the diversity of Muslim "fashion." The girls primped, and tweaked their respective costumes: a hijab, two different styles of chador and the full-body, face-veiling niqab. Lately it has become more acceptable to admit to "cover recoil." Certainly I felt...

Millions of [young adults] nationwide, including male university students, have chosen to remain virgins until marriage. In doing so they unflinchingly clash head on with a modern day culture that implicitly condones free love. ... Men with piety are often presented as genderless beings a young man would never want to imitate. On the opposite side of the spectrum is the equally distorted concept of men who are macho. Such men see the loss of virginity as not only an acceptable but even a necessary step towards their deformed image of manhood. Sherif Girgis would be the first to disagree...

From the Catechism“There are differences between male and female: physical, emotional, and spiritual differences. These differences result, by God’s plan, in a beautiful complementarity oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life” (CCC 2333).“Men and women are equal but not the same obiously. There is equal personal dignity. Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God” (CCC 2334-5).“The virtue of chastity comes under the cardinal virtue of temperance, which seeks to permeate the passions and appetites of the senses with reason” (CCC 2341).“Christ is the model of chastity. Every...

Dear Brothers and Sisters,As the hot weather has descended on us and we are in summertime or vacation time, it is appropriate to speak of modesty of dress especially in participation in the Holy Eucharist, the receiving of Our Lord in Holy Communion, the privilege of being a lector of the Sunday Bible Readings, and serving as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion.This time of the year, I (and am sure many of you also) hear complaints about a lack of respect and reverence for the house of God, the sacredness of the Lord’s presence in the liturgy, and lack...

LONDON (AFP) - Maria Sharapova turned the spotlight on to a lapse in Wimbledon security after her quarter-final win was interrupted by a streaker who performed a hand-stand in front of the Royal Box. The appearance of a naked young man mid-way through the second set of the Russian's match against compatriot Elena Dementieva was the biggest surprise on a day in which the top four women's seeds -- Amelie Mauresmo, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin-Hardenne and Sharapova -- booked their semi-final spots. Sharapova said she had never felt alarmed but admitted she had been surprised by how long he had...

TORONTO, Canada (The Catholic Register) – These days Emily Morrow-Fick keeps busy organizing runway lessons, wardrobe fittings and easing last-minute stage fright as she prepares 55 young girls to take center stage at a Pure Fashion show here. "It's not just about fashion, a lot of it is teaching girls how to present themselves without feeling like they have to act like Britney Spears or Paris Hilton," said Morrow-Fick, 18, a student at St. Mary's College and the co-chair for Pure Fashion in Calgary. Pure Fashion is a Catholic program that promotes modest dress for girls in grades 8 through...

With nearly every advantage in our favor, and after years of unprecedented opportunity to produce young people of the highest spiritual, moral, and distinctive Christian character, Christians continue to shoot themselves in the foot by allowing the world’s patterns and styles to define them and their children. Like the children of Israel, we have corrupted ourselves with the gods of Egypt.This is an urgent appeal to Christians, particularly homeschoolers. It will not apply equally to everyone, but I am afraid it applies to far too many. There are many good and wonderful Christian people who may bristle at this, but...

How do those "sexy" fashions really affect men? As a man, I'd like to explain. Frequently I see women poured into tight jeans and short mini-skirts. Others wear revealing blouses, tight sweaters and sheer pants. Women are wearing "sexy" fashions just about everywhere - to work, school and even to church. But do "sexy" clothes get women what they really want? Are these women striving to be honored, loved and respected by men? Sometimes when I see women wearing "sexy" outfits, I wonder . . . Maybe she's looking for a boyfriend or hoping she'll attract her future husband? Or,...

TFP Student Action launches effort to restore modesty on Catholic campuses Feminist groups on twenty-one American Catholic Universities are planning a new assault against the Church’s traditional moral teaching, by organizing showings of the lewd play, “The V***** Monologues” in the weeks surrounding St. Valentine’s Day. (Asterisks added for modesty). TO SIGN YOUR E-CARD AND JOIN THE GROWING PROTEST, visit: http://tfp.org/student_action/php/monologues_2006.php The choice of St. Valentine’s Day is particularly offensive, since it is a feast day the Church instituted to honor three martyrs who died to defend the Faith. According to the Cardinal Newman Society1, the play is a conglomeration...

A modest backlash against the culture Dec 9, 2005by Mona Charen The following is from a new blog: "Waiting to meet an old friend for lunch the other day, my eye fell on the young woman at the table across the aisle. She was attractive, nicely put together in a casual way: T-shirt, jeans, Eskimo-style boots, and a neat ponytail. The lady with her appeared to be her middle-aged mother. Ultimately, I noticed that her T-shirt had some strange writing on it, which is hard to do justice to, while being sensitive to the fact that ModestyZone has some...

'Bikinis and booze caused bombings' AUSTRALIANS had declared a moral war on Muslims in Indonesia with their drinking and skimpy clothes in Bali, the eldest brother of three of those responsible for the 2002 attacks said yesterday. Muhammed Khozin told The Australian at his home in Tenggulun, East Java, that his community didn't care about the October 1 Bali bombings because they were not linked to people from his village. Mr Khozin's younger brothers Amrozi and Mukhlas were sentenced to death and Ali Imron to life imprisonment for their roles in the attacks on the Sari Club and Paddy's bar,...

by Karen Lynn Ford Other Articles by Karen Lynn Ford Modest Dress at Mass 08/27/05 About 12 years ago a woman in her early twenties went to Disney World. She loved Mickey Mouse and couldn’t wait to see him in person. She had a youthful love of everything the Magical World of Disney promised. In This Article...What I Wish I Had KnownA Detraction and DistractionStop Being So Mousy about It! What I Wish I Had Known Unfortunately, she also believed much of what she saw and learned in the “real world.” She thought that to get attention she needed to dress...

A Supreme Property Rights Disaster In The Making More Kelo on the SCOTUS horizon?... [James S. Burling] 8/15/05 After a term marked by the Supreme Court’s utter contempt for property rights, those of us who happen to think there is something special about allowing old widows to keep their homes were not prepared for an even more bitter defeat. Yet, that is what President Bush handed us with the nomination of John Roberts. The battle over property rights is not a conservative versus liberal thing. It’s more a struggle between those who believe in the power of the state to...

It's Saturday evening, the end of a hot day, and a group of women and children have gathered at North Seattle's Meadowbrook Pool for their monthly swim. Most of the pool staff has left, except for two female lifeguards, who on this day will be on duty for the next two hours. The women and children — all Muslims — have been swimming in private once a month at Meadowbrook as part of a program organized by the North Seattle Family Center. Because Islam requires Muslim women to fully cover themselves in public, swimming in pools or the ocean is...

The innocuous carton of eggs, the milk, and bread moved along the black conveyer belt as my daughters surveyed the candy on the rack behind me in the checkout line at the grocery store. As they excitedly begged peanut M&Ms, my eyes drifted up and went wide as my jaw dropped at the sight of the licentious magazine cover before me. Public Shock and Private Failure I hastily flipped the magazine over and embarked on a quest to find the store manager, groceries in hand and daughters in tow. “Have you seen this?” I queried, showing him the magazine cover....

A smiling young girl leans against a metal railing on a dark street dimly illuminated by neon lights. She is wearing a ruffled miniskirt and a sleeveless shirt, separated by a narrow strip of bare skin at her midriff. Her figure mirrors that of the slightly more adult version of herself painted crudely onto the billboard behind her: a young woman with a flowing mane of red hair, black bra and arms held together behind her back, who looks coyly at the viewer as she floats upon a pile of pink clouds. An image taken off a child pornography site?...

Woman settles lawsuit after being barred from public pool wearing Muslim garb LINCOLN, Neb. A Muslim woman in Omaha, Nebraska, says it's nice to feel like part of the community again now that a public swimming pool's dress code has been modified. Lubna Hussein had been barred from accompanying her three children to the pool area because she was fully clothed, even though she wasn't going in the water. It took a federal lawsuit to get dress code altered. The suit, filed by the A-C-L-U, has now been settled and the dress code accommodates religious or medical needs. Hussein says...

Sex & The Islamic Terrorist January 31, 2005 By Debbie Schlussel Occasionally, a commentator feels the need to demonstrate how “moderate” he is toward Islam. He bends over backward to defend radical Muslims and attack America. Just to look “balanced”. And to get the phony mystique and “respect” that go along with it, like fries with a Whopper. This week, the whopper is a column in the Boston Globe, and the purveyor is Jeff Jacoby. Normally, Jeff is on the money. But this time, I can’t defend Jeff. This time, he’s wrong. Dead wrong. Jeff has a problem with female...

"Oy-Vey! Here they go again, the carping critics who are never satisfied no matter what we do." That’s the reaction I expect from many of the Agudah people who will read this article. Actually, I like the people in Agudath Israel. So let me make it clear at the outset that I write this article as a friend, not as an enemy. Agudah intentionally planned the 82nd annual Convention in Stamford, Connecticut as a mixed-gender event. The Convention was not designed to be an updated Keneisiah Gedolah for men only. Perhaps Agudah feels that the only way to get people...

PORTLAND, Maine -- Everyone who has been hospitalized or has undergone an outpatient procedure knows -- and probably loathes -- the skimpy, ill-fitting, one-size-fits-none hospital gown. Maine Medical Center finally decided to do something about it upon discovering that Muslim women accustomed to being fully covered were skipping appointments to avoid the immodest garments.

Shelby Raley spent last weekend sketching on a notepad, filling it with her ideas of what girls her age should wear. She's 9, a fourth-grader at North Elementary in Fair Oaks, and she knows she doesn't belong in skintight T-shirts with "I Flirt" and "Take Me Home" printed in big letters across the chest. Little girls always want to be big girls, at least until the age of 40, when they'd like to start looking younger again. The fashion industry knows this, which is why a flood of highly age-inappropriate clothes are being marketed for kids. Porn star chic, let's...

PORTLAND, Me. - Until recently, Rahmah, a Muslim woman who moved here from Somalia in 1997, was embarrassed when she was told to disrobe for doctor's examinations at Maine Medical Center. The short hem and open back of the flimsy robe she was asked to put on affronted her religious belief that women should dress to preserve their modesty. "It was very troubling,'' said Rahmah, a hospital employee who did not want her last name used because of some anti-Muslim sentiment directed at the hospital. "It showed my body and I was not comfortable." When a nurse could not provide...

As the mother of a 4-year-old girl and an 8-month-old boy, I am increasingly dismayed by the liberal assault on decency, the normalization of promiscuity and the mainstream media's role as shameless collaborators. First, let me tell you about my new hero.

REMEMBERING REAGAN In Solidarity The Polish people, hungry for justice, preferred "cowboys" over Communists. GDANSK, Poland--When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989. Poles fought for their freedom for so many years that they hold in special esteem those who backed them in their struggle. Support was the test of friendship. President Reagan was such a friend. His policy of aiding democratic movements...

Girls Pushing for Modest Fashion Options Wed Jun 2, 3:58 PM ET By KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press Writer REDMOND, Wash. - During a recent shopping trip to Nordstrom, 11-year-old Ella Gunderson became frustrated with all the low-cut hip-huggers and skintight tops. So she wrote to the Seattle-based chain's executives to complain. The industry has been getting the message: A more modest look is in, fashion experts say. The shy, bespectacled redhead has since become an instant media darling, appearing on national television over the past two weeks to promote modest fashions instead of the saucy looks popularized by the likes...

REDMOND, Wash. - During a recent shopping trip to Nordstrom, 11-year-old Ella Gunderson became frustrated with all the low-cut hip-huggers and skintight tops. So she wrote to the Seattle-based chain's executives to complain. The industry has been getting the message: A more modest look is in, fashion experts say. The shy, bespectacled redhead has since become an instant media darling, appearing on national television over the past two weeks to promote modest fashions instead of the saucy looks popularized by the likes of Britney Spears. "We like to call this new girl Miss Modesty," said Gigi Solif Schanen, fashion editor...

Good on Sarah Freeman, the 20-year-old Melbourne assistant store manager who refused to wear the provocative T-shirt her employer provided for her. Westco Jeans had issued staff the skin-tight, V-neck T-shirts with "Stop Pretending You Don't Want Me" emblazoned across the chest. The accompanying memo instructed: "NO T-shirt equals NO work. Any team member that does not dress correctly will be sent home." Freeman was sent home last weekend for refusing to wear the T-shirt after a customer made lewd comments and stared at her breasts. "I said, 'Hello'," she told The Age newspaper, "and he said hello to my...

You may have noticed that many young women wear less, and more sexually provocative, clothing in public than they did a generation, or even 10 years, ago. It is easier to notice, however, than to explain. But explaining it is crucial to understanding what has happened to men and women in the last 40 years and where male-female relations are headed. Women exposing their bodies in public is a big deal. Playing with the sex drive, the most powerful force in nature, is far more dangerous than playing with fire. Even if one welcomes this development -- and for the...

My Finest Cutoffs 9/06/03 Andy looked in the mirror to give himself the “once over” before heading out the door to the most important event of his life. He finally had his chance to interview with Zenon Industries. Undoubtedly the finest company in his field, landing a job with Zenon meant unlimited career possibilities coupled with great security. Projecting the Right Image Andy had prepared for weeks to have all the right answers to potential interview questions. He had splurged on a quality business suit, Italian shoes and even a new briefcase. One thing he had learned long ago was...

Under pressure from Washington and with stars refusing to do nude scenes, Hollywood has rediscovered modesty Hollywood is putting its clothes on. The latest trend from the movers and shakers of the film world is a return to 1930s-style on-screen modesty. Running against the prevailing tide in the media, mainstream film-makers are turning prudish to satisfy - or otherwise - an apparent shifting demand in tastes from moviegoers. Over the past 12 months there have been far fewer films rated for 'sexual content'. Just eight new releases carry the 'R' rating compared with 18 last year and 25 five years...

At a time when exposed midriffs, pierced navels and tattooed backsides are all the rage, the pressure is on young girls to grin and "bare" it. Everywhere you turn, Catholic parents - their influence challenged by the onslaught of writhing pop idols on TV and the prevalence of racy attire at the shopping mall - are lamenting the loss of their daughters' modesty. "It used to be just the fringe people who dressed like that," says Kathie Nalepa, who resides in Clarkston, Mich., with her husband and three children. "But [now] even the girls who want to do the right...

Megan Cutter, who is 10, likes tight Capri pants, high-heeled flip-flops, T-shirts that say "Princess" or "Brat," and clothes with glitter, plenty of glitter. "I think it's really pretty, and it gets you attention," she says. "I like attention." This may be what Megan likes to wear. It is not, however, what she is allowed to wear. "My mom and I have worked out some compromises," she says: one pair of blue pants that have some glitter on them; a T-shirt her dad bought that says "Smart, Cute" on the front and "Athlete. Who says you can't have it all?"...