Yesterday my (female) collegues and I had a very stimulating conversation about women and modesty. This was promted by a Guardian article in Friday's G2 called "Chastity is chic" (by Jessica Valenti) and it was about the growing (?) chastity/modesty movement in the US.

What an interesting topic! And there are so many views just amongst us women we didn't really get round to asking the men around us (who were possibly quite relieved...). The modesty issue was not only about sexual behaviour but also about the clothes women wear. As someone who only fairly recently has discovered the liberation of wearing what I wish to wear and learning not to care what others think of my choices/style, I found the discussion on boundaries an interesting one. I freely admit to deploring the (lack of) clothing of women on the Kingsway/Wind Street in winter, but i still think that trying to dictate someone's wardrobe is a tricky situation to put yourself in. I resent the implication that men can't control themselves and the responsibility of their behaviour rests with us. It seems a bit much. I'd love to see the article about men dressing modestly...

Another interesting point in the article was the movement's idea that a woman's goal in life should be marriage. We sadly didn't get round totalking about this issue as we were caught up in comparing what we'd wear in various places, and feelings on make-up (I think it has been a good 6 or 7 years since I last wore any).

During my first year at Uni a girl who lived on the same floor as I did was almost solely at University to find a husband. She even considered moving to a different University because she didn't think there were enough suitable men around. So I'm not quite so quick to dismiss the marriage goal as I once was - it obviously can be an important one to some people. Personally, though, I cannot imagine basing my life around such a goal. I've got other things to do with my time/life, thank you very much!

I guess chastity is a fairly 'revolutionary' idea at the moment, and if this movement can offer support to women than all the better. I think I'm reacting more to the marketing strategies and the black-and-white view they, like so many advertisers, present. It did make a couple of hours go past quite quickly inbetween (and during) serving customers...