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When A Return to Modesty was first published in 1999, its argument launched a worldwide discussion about the possibility of innocence and romantic idealism. Wendy Shalit was the first to systematically critique the "hook-up" scene and outline the harms of making sexuality so public.
Today, with social media increasingly blurring the line between public and private life, and with child exploitation on the rise, the concept of modesty is more relevant than ever. Updated with a new preface that addresses the unique problems facing society now, A Return to Modesty shows why "the lost virtue" of modesty is not a hang-up that we should set out to cure, but rather a wonderful instinct to be celebrated.
A Return to Modesty is a deeply personal account as well as a fascinating intellectual exploration into everything from seventeenth-century manners to the 1948 tune "Baby, It’s Cold Outside." Beholden neither to social conservatives nor to feminists, Shalit reminds us that modesty is not prudery, but a natural instinct—and one that may be able to save us from ourselves.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
May 20, 2014 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781476765174
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781476765174
- File size: 4027 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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November 15, 1998
Recent college grad Shalit counsels young women to mount the barricades of the countersexual revolution. Hers is not a back-to-the-corsets conservative screed, but rather a criticism of the scant respect that young men have for women, a situation that concerns feminists protesting date-rape, street vulgarity, pornography, etc. She believes women are uncomfortable with the it's-good-if-it-feels-good credo and cites to this effect many stories and letters that appear in the glossy women's magazines, such as "Glamour "and "Marie Claire." She detects in these articles a natural female embarrassment about sex that the prevailing ethos strives to eradicate, starting with early sex education and continuing to the short-term, serial relationships pursued by her age cohort. Because she believes women would rather be respected than used, Shalit appeals for an end to exhibitionism and one-night stands and intelligently promotes modesty in dress, etiquette, and morals as a means to a happier and more erotic life for women. Well-organized, briskly written advocacy. ((Reviewed November 15, 1998))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1998, American Library Association.)
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