"Modest" Dress and the Surveillance of Women's Bodies

Women in faith communities are sometimes taught from a young age that they must dress "modestly." Various reasons are given. Dressing modestly honors God. Dressing modestly protects men from "stumbling" into lust. Dressing modestly protects women from unwanted attention, comments, or even harm.

Let me say from the start that I see nothing wrong with dressing modestly. What I wear would probably be described as professional or even modest. Certainly what I wear is not controversial.

The problem is the message behind modest dressing.

Here are some problems I see with the phrase "modest dress" and how it is used in faith communities and in school dress codes.

Modest Dress and Shame

Let's first address the idea that modest dress honors God.

Genesis 1:26-27 says that men and women are both created in the image of God. If the female body images God then how can the female body be shameful, offensive, or dishonoring to God?

It seems that both Gen 1:26-27 and Psalm 91 might offer helpful messages for women to incorporate into daily life of faith. Especially if we struggle with issues of shame or body image.

When women are told to cover up their bodies in order to honor God, the implicit message is that women's uncovered bodies dishonor God. Things that require hiddenness, secrecy, and covering up are most often associated with shame.

No wonder so many women of faith feel that their bodies are shameful and something to be hidden away lest God be offended!

The message that modest dress honors God creates a culture of shame around women inhabiting their own bodies every day. It teaches us that our bodies are evil or shameful.

Modest dress made the news fairly recently in Florida where a high school digitally altered photos of 80 female students in their yearbook without their permission or consent. [1] This case of discrimination against female students is obvious: none of the altered photos were of male students, only female students, including swim team photos.

Modest Dress and Money

In conversations around "modest" dress, this passage from the Bible is frequently cited.

I want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. (1 Timothy 2:9-10 NRSV)

What is the meaning of this passage? Women are encouraged not to focus overly much on their appearance (!) and to focus on good deeds.

Let's notice that this passage gives no information about types of clothing or makeup that are appropriate. So, any attempt to do so is a matter of interpretation.

More importantly, in communities of faith, some members are more wealthy than others. This passage suggests that flaunting wealth before others who have less is not a good look. The passage also discourages over attention to appearance. Instead, women are called to focus on making a positive contribution to the world as a way to worship God.

Modest Dress and Men

Another thing that women are sometimes taught is that we should dress modestly to protect men from lustful thoughts. This kind of argument is damaging to both men and women.

This kind of teaching hyper-sexualizes women and teaches that both women and men to think of women as sexual objects.

This kind of teaching dehumanizes men and assume that they have no control over their behavior, thought patterns, nor any responsibility for their choices. It is a terrible disservice to and mischaracterization of men.

Women are not and should not be expected to act as the only gate-keepers for sexual activity and intimacy. It is the responsibility of both men and women to make wise choices about their romantic relationships and sexual activity.

Visibility and Surveillance of Women's Bodies

As girls and women we feel the visibility of our bodies from a very young age. There is an external gaze fixed upon us in public and in private contexts. Whether we are at school, at work, in public, or at home in our pajamas, that gaze is always with us.

We are always under surveillance.

The philosopher Michel Foucault explored the relationship between visibility, surveillance, and systems of power. Foucault wrote,

"Visibility is a trap." [2]

To be visible is to be caught in systems of power and control. As women, we are not always aware that systems of power lie behind our sense of what is appropriate or not appropriate - to do, to wear, to say, to be. There is a trap in our visibility - that others feel free to judge and to comment on the appearance of women, while those who are the arbiters of right or wrong appearance are not subject to the same standards.

Foucault also observed the problem of "asymmetrical surveillance," where some are more visible and are monitored by others: "(S)he is seen, but does not see; (s)he is an object of information, never a subject in communication." [3]

Visibility is not something "natural," it is a cultural norm that is communicated in thousands of tiny ways to girls as children. Hyper-focused attention on appearance is something that is taught to girls and is reinforced by every reward and judgment for right and wrong appearance ever after.

Modest Dress is Coded Language for Surveillance

Sometimes we might feel that our visibility gives us power. When we feel confident we might think that visibility benefits us.

More often, we have been taught that our appearance is something that requires the approval of others. Requires us to follow a code of rules. We must appease the gaze of others.

We must be surveilled.

The term "modest dress" functions as a coded way for faith communities to require consent from us to be surveilled.

Perhaps even more damaging, we have been taught to internalize this surveillance. This way, it is not necessary for an outside person to comment on our appearance and whether it meets the standards of "modesty."

Unknowingly, we have internalized the surveillance and do it to ourselves.

And we wonder why women struggle so deeply with body image. The message of surveillance is that our bodies are dangerous and need to be controlled.

The Surveillance of Women by Women - Shaming Each Other

We have so deeply internalized this surveillance that we turn the gaze on others. As women, we use "modest" dress and many other terms to rank ourselves and one another in a hierarchy. We become part of the cultural system propagating surveillance.

We all know the kinds of words used by women to talk about other women.

When we think another woman should be more "modest" we are just as quick as men to shame, perhaps more so. We might even feel more powerful for doing so.

But "visibility is a trap," and we cannot escape it by shaming others or ourselves.

(See an amazing TEDX talk by Emma Jones on this!) [4]

"Modest" is Cultural and Contextual

What is considered "modest" in the USA or in Canada is not at all the same thing as what is considered "modest" in Saudi Arabia or South Korea. So, then who decides the standards for "modest" and where does this authority come from?

Cultural constructs dictate the norms for "modest” and “appropriate.”

So it is good to recognize that there is no universal or global standard for "modest."

Even what is considered appropriate in a single culture or country varies widely by location and social function. Here are some examples that push the concepts of "modest" to illustrate the contextualization of appropriate dress.

In North America, a bathing suit of even a two piece can be considered "modest" at the beach, yet not in a high school or a restaurant.

Wearing a full-length dress with spaghetti straps is considered "modest" at a school dance or a theater production, but not in worship service.

Here I do not object at all to the idea that various types of clothes are functional or appropriate in certain settings but not others. I mention this to highlight the observation that the standards or norms of acceptable visibility are not even congruent within a single culture or geographic location.

What if instead of teaching our girls and women to dress modestly, we taught them to dress justly?

This is the message of 1 Timothy 2:9-10 - that women should be clothed with "good deeds."

What if "appropriate" dress for women of faith meant supporting diversity, the environment, and fair labor practices?

A study published by the National Women's Law Center titled "Dress Coded: Black girls, bodies, and bias in DC schools" found that black female middle and high school students who participated in their study were unfairly targeted by dress codes. [5]. Curvier women and women of color "faced adults' stereotypes that they were more sexually provocative."

What if our faith communities stood for justice for girls and women instead of for surveillance?

Let's change the message, especially to young girls and boys, that what you wear can honor God in all sorts of ways - concern for the environment, fair labor practices, functionality in doing good deeds, etc. And that our words about what others wear should communicate respect, compassion, and honor.

Melissa Ramos, author

[1] "Florida High School Alters 80 'Immodest' Yearbook Photos of Students," BBC News (May 24, 2021). Link

[2] Michel Foucault. Discipline and Punishment. English translation Pantheon Book, 1977.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Emma Jones, "The Toxic Female Gaze," TEDXGhent (June 28, 2017). Link

[5] National Women's Law Center. Dress Coded: Black Girls, Bodies, and Bias in D.C. Schools (April 24, 2018). Link