A Return to Modesty

Oh man, its that Wendy Shalit again. I brought her book, "A Return To Modesty: Discovering the Forgotten Virtue" and I can think of no better activity then reading it in the great holy city of Jerusalem -- at night. What virtue I have! This was published in 1999 and I can see the beginnings of both Pamela Paul and Ariel Levy's books in here. Something about "A Return To Modesty" just has to be read in Jerusalem, it would have no impact if read in New York. Modesty is in practice in Jerusalem -- even my flouncy roommate covers on Shabbat. Reading "Female Chauvanist Pigs" is best done in San Francisco or New York -- there you can read about bois and then go out dancing with them, or snicker at Cake parties from a point of reference. "Pornified" should be read in some edge city, lonely, highway linked Indianapolis or somewhere that makes isolation and internet porn addiction more tangible. Sad, Plano, Texas-land. That kind of isolation can sort of be excused by bad urban planning, but it doesn't make sense in New York. But Modesty and Shalit belong here -- this shit resonates.

Here Shalit cites Simone de Beauvoir: "... One of the reasons why modesty paralyzes young men much less than women [is] because of their aggressive role, they are less exposed to being gazed at; and if they are, they have little fear of being judged, for it is not inert qualities that their mistress demands of them: their complexes will rather depend upon their amatory power and their skill in giving pleasure. " Therefore it is most preferable, wrote de Beauvoir, that "the young girl slowly learns to overcome her modesty, to know her partner." Beauvoir predicted that in a society that trivializes this need, sex will be violent and women will be left with no recourse.

Hmm.