It’s All About Dry Land
I was in the water, on vacation to the Creation Museum when it hit me. As I looked around at the various people swimming and playing around in the water in the hotel’s swimming pool, it wasn’t the people in the water that were giving me problems with immodesty—but the people that were not in the water.
To be sure, there are definitely very immodest bathing suits. The ones that you’re confronted with when you walk into your local WalMart make you wonder why the undergarments provide more coverage than the swimwear! But, in reality, it’s when a young lady is outside of the water that she needs to be most aware of modesty.
Sunbathing: Who Likes Tan lines?
No one likes a “farmers tan”. When my wife goes out in our backyard to “get some Sun”, she’ll roll her sleeves up to the tops of her shoulders. The whole point is to get the tan. That’s part of the reason that women wear their underwear or halter tops to the beach. They’re “working on their tan.”
The other reason is to show off “what they got.”
For the modest woman, the beach (or any public place for that matter) is not the place where she should be looking to get a tan. That’s just inviting eyes to look at her. If a modest woman is going to the beach or a hotel’s swimming pool, she should be looking to get into the water.
But to Get To the Water, You Have to…
… go by guys. It’s true. This is where you should have some sort of covering—being a cover up, a sarong, or whatever it takes to make you modest. I’m not saying that you have to wear it into the water, but sit close enough to the water that the time it takes for you to get in is short.
If you’re at the beach, make sure that when you come up you’re away from the shoreline.
The point is that, when you’re mostly submerged in water you can’t get more modest. But when you’re out of the water, you’re a temptation because most of the swimwear is made to show off everything you have.
To Sum Up
The point of modesty when it comes to attire is to make sure that you’re not exposed, and many choose to expose themselves, but you don’t have to.
- Plan ahead to make sure that you’re comfortable.
- Get a suit that makes you feel good and provides adequate coverage.
- Only go places where you feel comfortable and where you can easily get in and out of the water without too much attention.
I’m not anti-beach, I’m just saying that it’s a tricky place for a modest woman.
Loading ...
Hi had a swimdress made by a friend who is a seamstress. It has a small sleeve and is long enough to cover my knees. The neckline is cut higher as well. It also has leggings underneath the same length and material as the dress. In the water and out of the water I am modestly covered. No matter how you cut it a bathing suit just isn’t modest, whether it be a one-piece or a bikini.
mrs. troopers last blog post..And She’s Off!
I wear long shorts and a teeshirt over my swimsuit if I’m going in public where there are males. If it’s just me and the girls I will still wear the shorts (I don’t like my legs) and my swimsuit comes up nice and high in the front with lots of strap in the back, so it’s fairly modest- for a swimsuit.
While I do think it’s true that mostly the issue is out of the water, I don’t think that immodesty turns into modesty by getting in. It shows the same amount of skin. There are people in the water too. This is more of a problem in a pool, though, where the water is clear.
(JuneNCA)
God bless,
Hannah L.
I live 1/2 a mile from the beach and yes, it is hard to be modest at the beach…so I don’t go to swim very often. I wear long shorts also, with a long and high-cut tank. I usually wear a shirt over it when I’m not swimming.
I think that sometimes modesty depends on context, though. Men EXPECT to see women in swimwear when they go to the beach or pool. That doesn’t mean that we have a licence to just expose ourselves but I don’t think we need to beat ourselves up over a bit of exposed skin in this context.
To illustrate what I mean…if you walked into a restaurant and saw a woman in a bikini or a swim suit of any kind you’d be shocked, right, and probably wonder if she was some kind of sex worker. If you walk onto a beach and see the same thing, it hardly causes you to blink.
As long as we choose the most modest swimsuit we can, that’s all we need to do, in my opinion. Worrying about being in or out of the water is silly and I don’t really see that there is a great difference between the two anyway…?
Certainly something to think about, Rebecca. The whole point of this post, however, was that when someone’s in the water it really doesn’t matter what they’re wearing (unless they’re in a really small or clear pool being still) because you cannot see anything really well in the water. However, when a person’s on dry land you see everything.
Being a guy, it really doesn’t matter if I “expect” to see women in bathing suits and bikinis on the beach– in fact, many guys go to the beach because they’ll get to see women “in their underwear” there.
I was suggesting, with this post, that it’s important to make sure that you’re more covered when you’re out of the water, and to be less concerned when you’re in it. :)
Are you serious? A woman should not be covered up because she will “tempt men.” That’s the man’s fault, and you, a 33 year old presumably white man should know. This whole site is ridiculously misogynistic.
This site is primarily for those that desire to be modest in their apparel– for whatever reason they desire. As a side benefit, this site allows women who are concerned about what effects men to have a male perspective and, hopefully, to see their clothing choices through male eyes. Therefore, its readers benefit from this male opinion and though you may believe this to misogynistic, it’s simply providing a service that’s been requested and encouraged.
Lucky!!! I want to go to the Creation Museum sooooo bad!
What bothers me are the swimsuits that are made for little girls… An adult can decide to wear a bikini if they want, but a 5 year old has no business in one… It’s not cute when a little girl looks just like her “hot” mommy out on the beach…
I think the reason that I have a problem with it is that it usually trains them away from a decent sense of shame. Shame is not a bad thing– it’s something that keeps us in line and is part of the working of the conscience. We should have a feeling of shame when we do things that are wrong, and when we train someone that it’s right to be in their undies in public, well, where does that go?
Good tips. I don’t like a farmer’s tan either! With different sleeve lengths, it’s likely to show if you wore a longer sleeved shirt when you got it. I always roll my sleeves up or wear sleeveless whenever possible if I’m outside.
#Feb2011NCARating