Lisa Catherine Brown

Transparency About My Bias

I completed the Pew Research Survey Anne has posted on AOC and my results confirmed what I already know about myself: I am more accepting of changes in family structure than 97% of the public.

Yes, this progressive married mom with four kids and a happy husband living in Michigan is an open-minded woman willing to explore new ideas and ways of thinking. In fact, I am more progressive than Anne, making us a good balance for each other.

Less intimidating, put this way – my response indicates that I am an ACCEPTER along with 31% of the American public. From this perspective, I am far from alone in accepting change in societal norms, values and judgments.

Artist unknown

The Modesty Survey

Yesterday I came across a survey disturbing to me in many ways – The Modesty Survey, a project of Rebelution, Timothy 4:12, a teenage revolution against low standards.

In case you don’t want to dust of your bible here is the Timothy 4:12 passage that Rebelution includes in it’s title graphic:

12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. -New International Version.

Over 1500 Christian guys (ages 15-50+) responded to questions that over 100 Christian girls presented in the Modesty Survey..

Under Male Peering Eyes

The survey was posted on Saint Valentine’s Day (2007) “as a gift to all Christian girls, and especially to those whose inner qualities of godliness, humility, and love express themselves in their outward attire.”

I ask: is this really a good old-fashioned teenage rebellion? Seriously, ages 50 and older were respondents to the survey; creepy old men judging teenage girls and young women. I don’t care if they are fathers or grandfathers or ministers, in fact, that possibility makes the survey more creepy.

At least one Christian blogger honestly relates to his readers a disclaimer that The Modesty Survey is not a scientific survey, “What it is is an honest look at what young women do and wear that may prove to be stumbling blocks for young men, all men.”

Yes, that’s right, from bathing suits to lip gloss to bra straps to calves — every detail of how a woman dresses and conducts herself was evaluated in the survey. This same blogger admits that the first thing he noticed about his wife was her calves! Thankfully, he let us know that bare calves are NOT a (major) stumbling block to men!

What impacts me the most about this survey is that we’re talking America, not Iraq or Iran. Recently the NYTimes showed a window in Baghdad designed by a mosque to frighten Iraqi women by showing them western women as the temptress.

Reality is these women are more monastic in dress than the Amish!

The representative of the mosque known as Abu Karar said: “This is a small stage to show the punishment of God if they wear these kinds of clothes, showing their breast, their butt, their body.” via AOC

Woman As Corruptress

I say The Modesty Survey is a resource to further burden girls and women into the belief that what they do, what they wear, how they dress and do their hair, how they sit, their posture and movements are somehow always shameful.

The Modesty Survey does approve modest one-piece bathing suits and short sleeved shirts or dresses. But a halter neck dress, with no cleavage and total coverage? No way.

The Modesty Survey commits young women to always be on the defensive against their very being. Why? Men simply can’t help themselves in the presence of female flesh — and it is woman’s fault. Men must regulate women’s bodies because they cannot manage their own.

In India, where millions of women have entered the workforce in the last decade, the taunting harrassment including groping and pinching, known as eve teasing, has become such a huge problem that four major cities have designated 8 women-only commuter trains so that women can travel in peace and with dignity and freedom from the uncontrolled male population.

Stumbling, Crumbling Blocks And Frocks

Read the survey results and see all the stumbling blocks these poor boys and old men (ew) suffer, it seems, because of the very existence of female flesh.

Yes, a girl bending over exposing her lower back is a stumbling block, seeing a girl stretching is a stumbling block, the way a girl walks can be a stumbling block, the list goes on…necklaces draw too much attention to the neck, necklaces that creates a ‘V’ are a stumbling block…okay so you get the point. So does he, apparently.

Image by Franca FranchiThis might seem like old news. After all, the survey was conducted 4 years ago and the belief system behind it has been around for as long as the great patriarch Abraham himself. But modesty is still being touted in Christian blogging and the mindset is deeply seeded.

In light of the recent assaults on women’s health rights by the republican congress and the Christian right that is the backbone of this new political majority, we can understand that this deportment on women’s freedoms is realizing Evangelical Christian beliefs that girls and women activate the lust of men. The modesty and submission of women is needed to protect boys and men from — well, from themselves.

The future of America is at stake and men must once again take women in hand, because we can’t behave properly without their instructing us on proper conduct and dress.

I quote directly from The Modest Survey:

“Some Christian girls have fathers or brothers to provide godly input on their attire, but many more have none. Many girls seem oblivious to the destructive effects of immodest attire on their brothers in Christ. Others desire to honor God and to protect their brothers, but don’t know where to start.”

Image by Franca Franchi

Fine, I’m A Smart Ass

‘Maybe they should start by wearing burqas’ was my thought when I first read The Modesty Survey. Oh yes, the men were high-minded.

“99.9% of the guys take full responsibility for themselves, and don’t expect women to cover every inch of skin — they’re just asking for help.”….”We’re not telling you what to wear — we’re just telling you what we, as guys, have to guard against. It is God’s Word, your own heart and conscience, and your parents and godly friends who should help you decide what to do about it. But, to help you reach your own conclusions we’ve provided some excellent resources that strike a balanced, non-legalistic tone.”

I feel better just knowing that burqas won’t be required by law. Or will they? If we don’t get reasonably honest on our own … what? Is that a threat?

Don’t Take Issue With Me

I don’t mean to offend moderate Muslims and those who choose to wear ultra modest clothing. I agree that an atmosphere of mystery and beauty can accompany dressing modestly.

Here’s the rub, my dears. Men, and boys too, like to think about what’s underneath women’s clothing . The more you see, the hotter you are. But the opposite is also true.

The less you see doesn’t stop men from grabbing women’s derrieres. The women of Egypt and India are the first to tell you that. Larger numbers of Arab women have adopted more conservative dress, and the anonymous fondling continues against ordinary women walking in the streets.

As a responsible woman and mother of four kids, I’m tired of hearing that it’s my problem that men cannot control themselves. I’ll tell you what ‘man up’ should really men. If men are truly this out of control hormonally, then women should and must run the world.

When women are seductive and desirable — our sexuality holds power. That is truly the crux of this matter.

Men are taught that they are closest to God, created in ‘his’ image. A woman born from man’s rib, created as man’s companion is a gift from God to man, and she cannot own this power over him. All the Abrahamic religions say God empowered man over all living things: animals, Mother Nature and women.

Image by Franca FranchiThe Health Benefits of Eating Apples

Quite frankly, apples are good for you. In the never-ending battle between God and science, researchers have proven that eating apples extends the lives of fruit flies by 10 percent. If you’ll forgive me for saying so, eating apples is good for your health — just like responsible sex between loving partners is good for your health.

The History Channel show ‘Mysteries of the Garden of Eden’ — featuring only male religious scholars and all of them from Christian Universities like Notre Dame and Pepperdine— says that Eve got a bad rap. They go so far as to inform viewers that Eve wasn’t Adam’s first wife, Lilith was. And they say that The Garden of Eden story is an extension of earlier Sumerian stories, in which women held much greater power.

The further back we go in history, the more power women had.

Anne wrote today that the BBC will soon broadcast ‘The Bible’s Buried Secrets’ Says God Had a Wife.

Dr (Francesca) Stavrakopoulou — who admits she is an atheist and is causing a brouhaha because of her admission — argues that God had a wife, based on Biblical texts that refer to ‘asherah’. Religious scholars consider Asherah as a fertility goddess in lands now covered by modern-day Syria, and she was half of a ‘divine pair’ with God.

We are confident that the Christian men of ‘Mysteries of the Garden of Eden’ are in agreement with the BBC.

Before women became the property of men under monotheism, we know that women were healers, teachers, warriors as well as gatherers, weavers, cooks and nurturers.

Many cultures had androgynous individuals — often considered sacred. Homosexuality wasn’t decried until missionaries and the missionary position took over.

The feast of Epona, named after a goddess who personified fertility, sovereignty and agriculture. She was portrayed as a woman riding a mare.The Male Viewpoint

I don’t think Christian fundamentalist men realize how many other men take issue with their positions that they men can’t control themselves and so they must control women.

My husband weighed in, noting how degraded boys and men must feel — and not girls — that women’s bodies are this intimidating. To be honest, I think men are better than this and based on research worldwide, women covering their bodies does nothing to keep them safe.

I have a proposal for boys and men. You guys get your two heads together and take charge of yourselves in a responsible, respectful way. I will do the same, protecting and being responsible for my own divine body. I — not you — will decide how I want to walk, dance, sing, decorate and create myself.

In an ideal world, we will develop mutual respect for each other, and the world that we are independently working on will converge on a joint path — one in which we move forward not with you in charge and me as a helpmate.

Let Phyllis Schlafly’s women be the helpmates. I’ve successfully raised four kids without taking my marching orders from men, and especially the men behind The Modesty Survey. Thankfully, I’m in love with a man capable of controlling his urges — perhaps because he has such a fine brain and sensitive heart in his masculine DNA.

Not all men are cads. Just those who blame women for being the grand temptress in our ravaged, war-torn world in which women have no say and little representation. You insult my intelligence with your Modesty Survey. Lisa