Most parents aren't that worried about modesty for their little girls; bike shorts under skirts are generally all that are required to keep active little ones modest. However, "modesty" has become a concept in the culture wars, much like "socialism" or "family values:" a word that signals the speaker's social class, religion, and political beliefs. For some people (think Duggars here), modesty isn't about keeping your undies from showing on the monkey bars, it's a complete mindset.
Which is, one supposes, how you get to the creation of a horrifying web site like Secret Keeper Girl. A Secret Keeper Girl, it turns out, is one who focuses on keeping herself pure for her future husband even before she hits menarche:
A Secret Keeper Girl values modesty, she surrounds herself with wise friends and she embraces Godly beauty. So, she keeps the deepest secrets of her beauty for just one man.
What deep secrets of beauty are those? Well, navels, for one thing:
[If your shirt rides up when you raise your arms] is this exposing a lot of belly? Bellies are very intoxicating, and we need to save that for our husband!
Let's just ruminate on that for a moment, shall we? Eight-year-old bellies are 'intoxicating' and only appropriate for said eight-year-old's husband.
The above is from a section aimed at getting girls to examine their clothing to make sure it's all modest enough. Other advice includes:
Lean forward a bit. Can you see too much chest skin or future cleavage? Your shirt is too low.
And, creepiest of all:
Get in front of a full-length mirror. If you are in shorts sit criss-cross applesauce. If you are in a skirt, sit in a chair with your legs crossed. Now, what do you see in that mirror? Ok, Pretend it's your grandpa!
All preteens should go about their day imagining their grandpa peeking up their skirts, right? It's a great way to develop a healthy sexuality and sense of safety.
Seriously, though. The practitioners of this brand of modesty will claim that, among other things, this thinking helps girls to escape the objectification that happens to girls from the earliest of ages in this society. But how can you argue that instruction a third grader in the art of keeping her (non-existent) dirty pillows covered lest a man have impure thoughts about her is not sexualizing her? Allowing that "you are a true masterpiece created by God’s hand" isn't going to go very far in alleviating a complex developed by spending grade school worrying about Grandpa ogling her "future cleavage."
















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