Girls Gone Mild: Bringing Back Modesty, or Hypocrisy?

There’s no doubt our culture has been stuck in a pit of hypersexuality for some time now. And there’s also no doubt that women are trying to figure out their place in this sex-driven society; do we embrace the attitudes men have long carried with them, use our sexuality to gain power, flaunt what we got? Do we make a sex tape and laugh about it, or pray to God to keep us pure until Prince Charming arrives in his black SUV?

By Jess

Wendy Shalit, author of the book “Girls Gone Mild”, claims a new revolution is upon us, and that revolution abhors sex tapes, preferring to wait for Mr. Charming instead.

In her book, Shalit claims “the young women [of] today, put off by our hypersexualized culture, are reverting to an earlier idea of femininity. They wear modest clothing and even act with unbrazen kindness. They don’t mind abstinence programs at school, and they prefer a version of feminism based on self-respect rather than sex-performance parity. They also take matters into their own hands when craven adults neglect to object to the objectionable.”

The older generation of mainstream feminists, Shalit says, “are so committed to the idea of casual sex as liberation that they can’t appreciate or even quite understand these younger feminists.” She goes on to say women who advocate casual sex “just don’t understand that pursuing crudeness is the problem, not the solution.”

As much as I like to see young girls telling Abercrombie and Fitch to get rid of their ludicrous T-shirts, I have to say that Ms. Shalit is a bit of a fossil. Wearing modest clothing and sitting complacently through abstinence programs sounds like a Conservative’s wet dream, a return to the pearls and Patty Duke-ified 1950’s, where women were supposed to be meek and mild, when sexuality was closeted, and information regarding such things were kept just out of reach from most girls, causing mass depression and confusion.

How come there are no books being published on a new “modest” masculinity trend? I’ll tell you why—nobody expects men to give up their sexual ways. No one expects them to tone down their attitudes. Men are men. Unfortunately, authors like Shalit won’t allow women the same freedom. People like Shalit are constantly trying to find ways to categorize us—“good” girls, “bad” girls—and make a profit off of convincing society we’re all either whores or angels.

Do I think we could all benefit from a little modesty now and then? Sure. But if you’re gonna try to shove me into a turtleneck and chastity belt, I’m taking every ass grabbing, porn watching, condom bulk-buying guy down with me.