This morning, I found a very interesting article written by Wayne Jackson.
Louis L’Amour wrote stories of the Old West that became bestsellers. He was meticulous in producing works that are fastidiously accurate in terms of the culture of the 1800s which addressed the manner in which women were viewed in the Old West. He observed that almost uniformly they were treated with great respect, even by the roughest of men. He noted that, as a rule, females could travel alone hundreds of miles by stagecoach and feel quite secure, because men regarded them so highly, and were extremely protective of the “fair” sex. I would add that I have noticed this in most Western films.
Those days are gone—and have been for quite a while. Now, a woman can hardly walk unescorted down a crowded street without being verbally assaulted or in some fashion sexually harassed. Most men in sizable cities do not want their wives driving alone at night.
One recent author believes she knows, at least in part, a cause for this dramatic shift in attitude toward women. She says it involves the “loss of modesty.”
Modesty Abandoned
Wendy Shalit, a young Jewish writer, created a considerable stir in the media with the publication of her book, A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue.
This volume has been hailed by some as a work that will “change society.” Others—especially feminists—vehemently denounce it, even suggesting it should be banned.
Ms. Shalit says that her initial exposure to our grossly “immodest” culture commenced when she was in the fourth grade. She was introduced to a “sex education” course, from which her parents presently removed her. She argues that such classes should be “completely abolished” because they erode one’s natural sense of modesty. She voices concerns that I've had along with other English colleagues everytime we've taught sex education to 12 and 13 y.o. in Year 8 and 9.
Modesty, Ms Shalit contends, is an innate, psychological barrier which protects youngsters as their personalities are developing.
Later, as a student at Williams College in Massachusetts, Shalit was appalled by coed restrooms and other on-campus, sex-related problems. She wrote a piece about these practices that was eventually published in Reader’s Digest.
The thesis of A Return to Modesty is that the so-called “sexual revolution” has robbed society of many of its most valuable virtues—for one thing, a sense of self-worth.
Read on, click here
Visit Wendy's website, click here
