21 In case you’re not familiar with this expression, a Mother Hubbard Dress refers to a long, wide, loose-fitting gown with long sleeves and a high neck, that was popular in some places in the 19th century. 22 Fr Stefano Manelli, Fr., FFI, Jesus Our Eucharistic Love, p. 67. Valatie, NY: The Academy of the Immaculate, 1996. 23 Dorothy M. Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, pp. 191-2. Staten Island, NY: Alba House Publishers, 1988. 24 Pope Pius XII, Address to a Congress of the Latin Union of High Fashion, November 8, 1957. The pontiff added with his accustomed insight: “It can certainly be conceded that there are different degrees of public morality according to the times, the nature, and the conditions of the civilisation of individual peoples. But this does not invalidate the obligation to strive for the ideal of perfection and is not a sufficient reason to renounce the high degree of morality that has been achieved, and which manifests itself precisely in the great sensitivity with which consciences regard evil and its snares”. 25 Cf. Anne Maloney, “What the Hookup Culture Has Done to Women”, Crisis Magazine, June 2016, https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/ hook-culture-done-women. 26 Cf. St Teresa of Avila, Life, chapter 2. 27 Cf. Gen 3:21. 28 Exhortation to Those In Authority Regarding Immodest Fashions in Women’s Dress, Letter Issued from the Sacred Congregation of the Council by order of Pope Pius XI January 12, 1930. The full text of this exhortation can be found here: https:// svbmv.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/1930-letter-ofthe-congregation-of-the-council.pdf 29 Summa Theologiae, IIa IIae, Q. 26, a. 5, see also Q. 169, a. 2 30 Cf. “On a pedestal: High heels and the perceived attractiveness and evolutionary fitness of women”, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/pii/S0191886921008357#bb0130; “High heels as supernormal stimuli: How wearing high heels affects judgements of female attractiveness”, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S1090513812001225. 31 The proper name for this procedure is “Breast/Buttock Augmentation with Fat Grafting”, and it consists of fat transfer and implants. Fat is taken from one part of the body and injected into another; silicone implants are placed in the muscle layer to increase curvature. According to the annual statistics of the American Society of Plastic Surgery (FY 2019), buttock augmentation has increased by 90.3%, ranking 6th in the number of all plastic surgery procedures https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ articles/PMC10229674/ “The buttocks are the centre of the posterior body and play a very important role in its contour. The buttocks play the same role as the breasts do on the front of a woman”. https:// www.australiaplasticsurgery.com.au/procedures/ buttocks-enlargement-buttock-fat-injectionbuttock-implants/ 32 Summa Theologiae, IIa-IIae, 169, 2, ad 1. 33 “It is one thing to counterfeit a beauty one has not, and another to hide a disfigurement arising from some cause such as sickness or the like. For this is lawful, since according to the Apostle (1 Cor 12:23), ‘such as we think to be the less honourable members of the body, about these we put more abundant honour’ ” (St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, IIa-IIae, 169, 2, ad 2). 34 Summa Theologiae, IIa-IIae, 169, a. 2. 35 St Augustine, Confessions, Book 10. 36 Cf. J.M. Townsend and T. Wasserman, The Perception of Sexual Attractiveness: Sex Differences in Variability. Arch Sex Behav 26, 243–268 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024570814293: “Men’s assessments of sexual attractiveness are determined more by objectively assessable physical attributes; women’s assessments are more influenced by perceived ability and willingness to invest (e.g., partners’ social status, potential interest in them)”. N.B. There are numerous other recent studies and journal articles that prove this objectively. They have not been listed here due to the sometimes indelicate nature of the content. 37 For anyone who may seek further confirmation of what I write here, it may be helpful to know that over a century ago a group of researchers studied the functioning of human perception within the broader study of the human mind and behaviour as a whole. Their research led to a number of principles which came to be known 103
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