pleasure. It’s even worse when you find out that the pictures presented to the men in this study were of headless women in bikinis. In other words, the face, which is the image of the person and the way they relate to the world and are respected as humans, was irrelevant.46 All that mattered was their body to be used as an object. Conclusion? If a female does not want to be seen as a tool, a toy or a piece of meat, then the bikini is certainly not the way to go. Now let’s go back to Genesis and remember that Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves which God said were not sufficient. The fig leaves are reminiscent of undergarments that adhere to the bare flesh, but are not sufficient garb to appear in public (Adam and Eve must have appeared very much like most people do today on our beaches!). Being expelled from the Garden of Eden was like leaving the privacy of their bedroom: they now needed proper clothes. In other words, there are certain forms of clothing that are not acceptable in public, even if they cover the most intimate parts of the body. It would be a disgrace, the equivalent of being naked. Would you walk down the street with only your underwear? On this note, it comes as no surprise that when the first bikini was introduced to the public on 5 July 1946, the designer, unable to find a runway model who would accept to wear and advertise it, had to hire a stripper – no other woman would accept.47 Even the models in those days had enough modesty to not appear in public in their underwear! How things have changed! Unfortunately, the common one-piece swimming suits available today are for the most part almost just as immodest as the bikini, most of them offering no coverage at all below the pelvis, and being quite revealing at the top; furthermore they are designed to show the exact curves of the entire body, which of itself, as we saw earlier, is gravely immoral. It is possible, however, to find some that are acceptable, covering most of the body.48 In 1954 Pope Pius XII issued a letter on modesty which it is worthwhile to quote here: “Everyone knows that during the summer months particularly, things are seen here and there which are certain to prove offensive to anyone who has retained some respect and regard for Christian virtue and human modesty. On the beaches, in country resorts, almost everywhere, on the streets of cities and towns, in private and public places, and, indeed, often in buildings dedicated to God, an unworthy and indecent mode of dress has prevailed. Because of this, 86
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