Modest swimwear?

[AdoramusTeChriste]

Aloha, Guadalupe!

 

My brother lives in the Honolulu area of Hawai'i, at least for a little longer. He was a volleyball coach at University of Hawaii, now he is head coach at Pacific in Stockton, CA. He met his wife (a native Hawaiian) there. They and their two kids will be moving state-side in August.

 

My husband and I got to go to their wedding. It was on the Big Island. The weather was absolutely gorgeous 100% of the time. Not too hot- as soon as things started heating up, this magnificent ocean breeze kicked up. It was truly paradise on earth, at least for me. I will never forget the experience.

 

I saw several people wearing the holokus, usually at night. Since the sun went straight down at 7 PM, that was a good chunk of the day. I didn't see anyone swimming in them. I think it would be hard to snorkel in some of the suits that people have posted pictures of in this thread. It would be really hard to swim with the sea turtles in a holoku.

 

I really liked the assortment of cover ups they had for sale in Hawai'i. I bought one similar to this one while I was there. I still use it in the summer here, and I think it does a great job of covering everything that needs to be covered. It looks normal and no one stares at "the only woman wearing a dress" when we are at the lakehouse that we are invited to visit from time to time. I don't wear it in the water because it would be "clingy" and heavy when wet. We don't use the beach for swimming when we go, we swim out of the boat. It is very private, even at the sandbar, so a Land's End type suit is plenty concealing, imo, especially since the water also serves as cover. Lake water is not nearly as clear as the waves of Hawai'i.

 

Those of us who live in temperate areas have different circumstances to deal with than those who enjoy good weather year round. In the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley areas, we have alot of days with extremely high heat and humidity, and other weather extremes that Hawai'i (or the southwest) doesn't get. The fact that we only have a few months of the year to swim outside doesn't make the heat and humidity more tolerable- it probably makes it less so. No one has a chance to get used to the weather because it changes so often!

 

 Edit:

 

Aviano, I think those suits are very cute.

[AdoramusTeChriste]

I saw this on another forum and thought y'all might appreciate it.

 

  

25/07/06 - News section  

Men may be banned from daring to bare their chests
By STEVE DOUGHTY, Daily Mail

Men may be barred from baring their chests - and stomachs - in public under new local laws being considered by town halls.  

They would stop men stripping off their shirts in crowded town centres and give powers to police to remove any who defy the cover-up laws.  

See also...
• Gallery: the proof that men should NEVER go topless
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/galleries/index.html?in_gallery_id=8319&in_page_id=1055',780,550)" target=_blank target=_blank>Gallery: see dramatic satellite images showing UK temperature and pollution increases
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/galleries/index.html?in_gallery_id=8318&in_page_id=1055',780,550)" target=_blank target=_blank>Gallery: the heatwave continues in Britain and round the world
• Heatwave advice issued as temperature soars

The proposal has been inspired by the least attractive side effect of the heatwave - the tendency of a number of often middle-aged men to go about in nothing more than shorts and trainers.  

Last week the Daily Mail highlighted the wave of revulsion among most of the public at the summer's least welcome fashion trend, and pictured a series of the worst examples in the hope of shaming offenders into keeping their T-shirts on.  

Anti-social  

Now local authorities have been circulated with a scheme for using by-laws to require shirts in town centres and to brand men who won't wear them as anti-social.  

The laws would operate in a similar manner to local statutes that ban drinking on the streets or which prevent gangs of youths from congregating.  

The politician behind the plan is former local government minister Nicholas Bennett, who has canvassed councils across the country for support.  

"There is a problem," Mr Bennett said yesterday. "In my part of the country we are trying to revitalise the main shopping precinct.  

"But one of the things that is depressing for anyone going shopping is the numbers of shaven-headed men, mainly in their 30s and 40s, who seem to think people want to see their torsos."  

He added: "It is only a small minority, one in a hundred people. But these men do look aggressive and occasionally behave aggressively. You would see a big difference in the shopping centre if they were made to put a shirt on."  

"It is nice weather and most of us are wearing fewer clothes. But a town centre is not the beach and taking your top off is going too far, for men as well as women.  

"It is an unfortunate thing, but those men who like best to bare their stomachs are the ones who have too much stomach."  

Officials in Bromley, in south east London, have responded warily to the proposal, suggesting that implementation might prove 'difficult'.  

However by-laws governing local behaviour and giving police powers to act against those who infringe them can be pushed through by town halls if the win approval from the Home Office.  

Mr Bennett, now a senior councillor in Bromley's ruling Tory group, said: "We already operate by-laws covering on-street drinking and a 'dispersal zone', where police have the right to break up groups of youths and ban gang members from coming back for 24 hours."  

Mr Bennett, who runs a property company, was a minister with local government responsibilities under John Major in the 1990s.  

 

 

Find this story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=397618&in_page_id=1770
©2006 Associated New Media

[Guadalupe]

AdoramusTeChriste said:    I saw several people wearing the holokus, usually at night. Since the sun went straight down at 7 PM, that was a good chunk of the day. I didn't see anyone swimming in them. I think it would be hard to snorkel in some of the suits that people have posted pictures of in this thread. It would be really hard to swim with the sea turtles in a holoku

I must not have clarified myself enough when I posted earlier. I said:

I debated with myself about what kind of suit I wanted to wear, and I realized that 'settling' on a suit like the one from Land's End would have a sin of pride as well as immodesty for me. So, I decided on a swim dress that covered a lot more, and you know, much to my surprise, half the women (mostly locals) on the beaches were wearing very covering suits, and NO ONE was being made fun of or drowning or having any other problem that others here had brought up.

I was talking about a suit like the one here:
http://www.modest-swimwear.net/4girlsinsuit.jpg

The example of the holokus were to illustrate the point that just because it is hot and humid (and it DOES get hot and humid there) that a lot of locals do not sacrifice their modesty outside of the water, as well as swimming, too. I was not suggesting that anyone wear a holoku swimming. BUT- a lot of women in Hawai'i that do care about their modesty usually wear a modest coverup closer to a holoku. I had a long dress kind of like a holoku that I wore when I was on the beach, but out of the water.

[QueenofPuddings]

It's probably about time we drew a veil over the contributions by Magdalene to this thread. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the original spat (and I'm sure we all have a view), Magdalene received an extremely gracious apology (which incidentally was never acknowledged) and that should be an end of it.

[Mernoc]

Swimsuits which show so much of a person's thighs and shoulders can never be described as modest, just because it shows less than a bikini does not make it modest.

If you wouldn't wear it to buy grocery's in you shouldn't be wearing it to the beach either.

If you are plagued by certain weaknesses, then it would probably be wise to avoid posts with the word “swimwear” in the title.

Thanks for your concern.

The problem with suits that have sleeves is that it limits your range of motion.

True but this doesn't need to take away from the enjoyment of swimming, modesty is far more important than swimming technique.

This is not modest? Geesh, I have many temptations too, but this is the least offensive-at least for me-that we could see here. Unless we go back to the full body 1920's suits

No it is not, because it is nothing compared to what be are normally forced to endure does not make it modest.

he has failed to make the distinction between a day at the beach and a night out.

There is no distinction to be made, clothes are either modest or not, would you argue that it is modest to go to a nudist colony in just your underwear because everyone else there is naked, of course you wouldn't because it would be absurd.

This bears repeating:

That is not modest, and is not appropriate for swimming. Rather, swimming does not "excuse" from modesty. This is why swimming in mixed company is a bad idea. If it is to be done, however, clothing will be necessary that is much more modest than that little thing is. I would also point out that "sunbathing" is an immodest moral abberation. It's fine in the privacy of one's own property, or wherever one will be unobserved, but it's not fine at any public venue, such as a pool or beach, with mixed company. Instead, one should always cover oneself when one's "out of the water," in addition to the modest suit necessary. Forgive the rhetoric, but I am very tempted to write that I cannot believe any of you ladies would happily consent to having men see you dressed like that, perhaps even perfect strangers. If you would not have them see you dressed in such a way walking down main street, then I think "the moral suspension of rules which automatically happens wherever sand meets water" is not a good justification, due to the novelty and inherent immodesty of the proposition. Is there a pressing need to take off a good portion of the clothes which preserve modesty, dignity, and decorum, to swim in mixed company? Or is it perhaps a modern "luxury?"

Is modesty completely relative to external circumstances and based soley upon societal trends?

No, God's standard of modesty is the same as it always has been, God does not change.

[catholicresistence]

If you wouldn't wear it to buy grocery's in you shouldn't be wearing it to the beach either.

 

Again, as noted on previous pages, there is a large difference between grocery store shopping and sitting in the  sun in very hot weather. Unless, you are advocating beach/pool attendees wearing full set of clothes. A health risk and defeat of purpose all around.

 

Also, what about the men doing the same thing. After all, men in only trunks may elicit immoral thoughts from women.

 

Don't know about you Mernoc, but this chubby CR is not sitting in triple digit weather fully clothed, esp at beach.

 

BTW-still reading the OLA site-fascinating and very sad. Some real heroes though to be remembered.

[Sophia]

No, God's standard of modesty is the same as it always has been, God does not change.

 

Please explain, then, how it is modest now for a woman to wear shortened sleeves and skirts, and go about sans headcovering, if it was not modest in Mary's day.

[AdoramusTeChriste]

   Perhaps the naysayers here are taking on a bit too much by presuming to give spiritual direction where they have no business doing so.

 

 

There is no distinction to be made, clothes are either modest or not, would you argue that it is modest to go to a nudist colony in just your underwear because everyone else there is naked, of course you wouldn't because it would be absurd.
 

 

The determination of whether clothes are "modest or not" is subjective. Even among priests there is not a concensus about what is appropriate for the laity. Father X says no, Father Y says yes, and Father Z says don't even go. I am willing to concede that some body types should probably avoid the pink Land's End suit. What it covers on the model may not be adequately covered on someone else.

 

Swimming is not walking around nude with other naked people. Comparing the two activities is absurd. It is interesting to me that the opponents of functional, non-weird swimwear have to resort to false dilemma to try to persuade.

 

No one here has said that the swimsuit should be worn anywhere else besides  water unless it is covered, including on the beach. I am quite comfortable wearing my beach cover dress to the grocery store- it is pretty, comfy, and it is a dress that hits below my knees. It is similar to what I wear everyday. No big deal.

 

 

[Traditio_in_Radice]

The determination of whether clothes are "modest or not" is subjective. Even among priests there is not a concensus about what is appropriate for the laity. Father X says no, Father Y says yes, and Father Z says don't even go.

 

I don't think there is disagreement between the clergy on what is modest because it is a subjective thing. The reason there is disagreement is because there has been absolutely no direction from Rome on this topic for forty years. Even the direction recieved during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII was not exhaustive or comprehensive.

 

However, we do have some important quotes from his pontificate. Regarding the subjectivity of modesty, he said:  "There always exists an absolute norm to be preserved."

 

His  pronouncements make no distinctions for various types of garments.  Pius XII stated "...an unworthy, an indecent mode of dress has prevailed" without any distinction of place, "on beaches, in country resorts, on the streets, etc."  (Aug. 29. 1954)

 

Keeping in mind that this was a time when there were still Catholic cardinals in the hierarchy, Cardinal Pla y Daniel, Archbishop of Toledo, Spain, stated in 1959:  "A special danger to morals is represented by public bathing at beaches...  Mixed bathing between men and women, which is nearly always a proximate occasion of sin and a scandal, must be avoided."

 

Covering up while not in the water, if the "beach dress" or what have you is modest, would satisfy these requirements, I think. However, it wouldn't counteract what other people are wearing. For men, at least, there is a real occasion of sin in being in a place where many women are about dressed only in bikinis.

[catholicresistence]

 

 For men, at least, there is a real occasion of sin in being in a place where many women are about dressed only in bikinis.

 

Most definately, chastising the mind is far harder then the body.