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Origins of Modesty in Regards to Women

The word Modesty comes from the Latin root modestus which means "keeping within measure". Originally, it was closely linked with the term moderation. Modesty eventually took on a different meaning with regards to gender and sexual virtue mainly with emphasis on women more than men. In 16th century writing, women were deemed more "lustful and unruly". The feminist movement claimed that women were in fact more modest because their private body parts were already covered with hair while a man's tends to show. Into the Enlightenment Era, modesty became a quality which every woman must possess because women had "sexual and physical weaknesses". These weaknesses tie back to the fact that women are descendants of Eve and therefore, are the first sinners and inherit her "weaknesses." . Weaknesses such as being "passionate, inconstant, credulous and even demonic", modesty was a most commonly used tactic by religious leaders to subdue these qualities. Modesty can also be tied to evolutionary theory, Darwin was baffled by the major difference between male and female birds, the males were bright and colorful while the females were meek and lacked those attractive qualities. Darwin concluded that the males are more "beautiful" because the females are more judging and their lust is less than males as well. Therefore, the female must subdue herself to the male and carry on the species. Women's use of modesty was of importance to 19th century sexologists in regards to their psychology. A physician that studied human sexuality by the name of Havelock Ellis believed that, women used modesty as an illusion to cover that underneath, there was sexual desire present. He also believed that modesty had a second use to keep men lingering for a woman. From a Christian lens, the idea of modesty came from the Genesis account in the Bible when Adam and Eve sinned and became ashamed of their bodies because they knew they were naked. This translated into the conduct with which people in the Christian time period of the 14th century dressed themselves, they wore long garments and tunics to hide their bodies. During the age of the Renaissance, this type of dress of changed to more tight fitted clothing, items that showed the bust or trousers that highlighted men's legs, ornamentation and color was also allowed. Due to the changing political, cultural and economic times, women's dress in regards to modesty has had to constantly be redefined and changed, with the emergence of women into the workplace now the ideal form of dress has become the "powersuit" , which shares similarities with the high neck and masculine look of 16th century women. Modesty is different from culture to culture, some indigenous people feel no embarrassment or shame when naked and in some Arab countries, women who are seen by a stranger without their veils or coverings on, are mortified.