Update: Modesty Survey - Day Two
In just two days over 320 Christian guys from around the world have submitted about 28,000 answers to the 148-question Modesty Survey. These incredible numbers are in large part due to the effective job each of you have done in spreading the word to the godly Christian guys you know. Keep up the great work!
We plan to leave the survey open until 1,000 Christian guys have completed it. Once we get a better idea of how long that will take, we’ll let you know. For now, this means that the faster you (guys and girls) recruit your Christian guy friends to take it, the sooner the results will be available.
January 11th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Wow! That’s a lot of guys answering the questions! I’m looking forward to hearing their answers!
January 11th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Hey,
Wow! That’s amazing….I was thinking more like 200 at most were going to take it. Praise the Lord - and thankyou, guys, for taking time to answer our questions
God is soo good,
Prudence
January 11th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Impressive. Could you add a “no opinion” button? Some of these garments I’ve never seen and as thus have no real knowledge of. I’ve been using the “neutral” button so far.
January 11th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
I’m so excited!! I hope we can read it soon! Thanks so much to EVERYone involved with this.
God bless ya,
Laura
January 11th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Thank you to all the guys that are taking the survey. I most definitly appreciate it and I know a lot of other girls do to. Two of my brothers are taking it and I am learning so much from them.
Quick question: Alex and Brett, are you taking the survey yourself? It would be neat to know that some of the answers belong to the ones who hosted this.
January 11th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Wow, I didn’t realize how many of us guys were doing this… I can’t wait for you girls to see the answers and for me to see what the other guys said!! And I ’strongly agree’ with Faithful Servant. It would’ve been a lot easier with a ‘no opinion’ button. Some of the terms didn’t quite make sense to me either, though I’m sure it would to others. Thanks for the great work in this!
January 11th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
All the guys who have completed the survey: THANK SO MUCH!!! The time that you’ve put into this is definately appreciated by us girls!
I’m very much looking forward to seeing the results!
January 11th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Faithful Servant and JoW: We switched between “neutral” and “no opinion” several times. Technically, they mean the same thing. The reason we went with “neutral” was because we had several beta testers complain that “no opinion” seemed too restrictive. So there are problems either way.
January 11th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
I just sent a message to my youth group, and will post on our homeschool group website. I am really excited!
January 12th, 2007 at 1:08 am
Well, it’s a commendable effort. But I certainly hope the fact that most of the questions are phrased as statements of truth does NOT mean the sponsors or most of the respondents agree with all the questions. For instance, “Semi-transparent sleeves are a stumbling block.” Come on. Good grief, please tell me that’s intended as a question, not a statement of truth. Actually, please tell me that’s not even intended as a question!
Of course, I suppose this is to be expected in a world that considers modesty to have a single, unified definition, which if violated will ALWAYS cause people to stumble. After all, I’m sure that “semi-transparent sleeves” probably cause more than two in a billion men to stumble - and if they only caused those two to stumble, forbidding them would be justified in an effort to purify the eyes of those men who couldn’t contain themselves at the sight of nearly bare *arms*.
January 12th, 2007 at 3:49 am
Hey Pieter,
All the ’statements’ were submitted as questions. The team re-worded them as statements so they could fit with the agree/disagree system we chose to use. Some of the statements are false, some of them are true. They do not at all reflect the opinions of the team, or the opinions of the person asking the question.
For more details, read “(Mis)Interpreting The Modesty Survey” http://www.therebelution.com/blog/2007/01/misinterpreting-the-modesty-survey/
Have a great day!
January 12th, 2007 at 9:26 am
‘Be self-controlled and alert’
(1) My point in voting was to ‘alert’ and to encourage - not to judge or condemn. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Our convictions and standards are going to be different. Christ came to proclaim freedom. The caveat is to be careful that in your freedom you don’t cause your brother or sister to stumble. Causing your brother or sister to go against their conscience and to stumble will lead them to destruction and is a sin against Christ according to 1st Corinthians 8.
(2) A person could lust after someone who was dressed modestly by my standards. Realistically, a girl dressed in a burka could probably be made an object of lust. The plumb line is the attitude and desires of the heart. Are you pointing to God, or vying against God for attention from the opposite gender? Are you dressing, acting, and living for God attractively? Or are you dressing, acting, and living to attract? Are you walking in the Spirit or walking in the flesh?
(3) Lust is not a sin that we can blame on ladies. Lust committed by men should be thought of by men as a sin against women and men. I’m preaching to the men because I’m a man, and my office does not include teaching girls. In a situation where we are confronted with an immodest girl our thought process should be ‘That girl is a child of God, a princess, no matter how deep in sin or confused she may be about the purpose of her beauty.’ Your love for her as a fellow sinner, your love for your future spouse, and your love for God is revealed by turning away and refusing to allow Satan to cause you to use her as an object of lust. That’s why I had trouble with the respect question. I respect immodest women as much as modest ladies in the light that both are daughters of the King. Christ calls us to love the sinner and to hate the sin with a passion! However I answered that I respected a modest lady more because she is living in submission to Christ reaching her full potential as a woman in her modesty and clear conscience. So again…
‘Be self-controlled and alert’
January 12th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Thank you very much for what y’all do. The Modesty survey will be a great tool in the future.
January 12th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
ColeC
I agree with you that the heart of the girl is most important. But her actions will show her heart. I am not going to dress in a Burka and try to hide myself. This survey though, will help all of us girls in our desire to not cause our brothers to stumble. We are not perfect but should be looking for ways to improve. I will not use the survey results as a legalistic guideline of what I can and cannot wear. Rather, I will pray over the results and seek to implement them into my life. This will help all of us girls better understand what a guy thinks regarding clothing. That way we can make better choices about our wardrobe.
Brittany
January 13th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Brittany,
Amen - I pray that everyone follows your example of prayerful interpretation and application.
I also wanted to thank those involved with the site for the encouragement and challenges you’ve offered in obedience to Christ. There’s an incomprehensible volume of prayer offered daily from men confronted with issues of immodesty. God bless you.
January 13th, 2007 at 10:06 am
I am really excited about this whole thing. I’ll see what I can do to get more guys involved! Can’t wait to see the results! Thanks for what you’re doing!!
January 13th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
In your previous post, you said:
“Finally, they can offer as much explanation and clarification to their answer in a text box below, even after they have submitted their response.”
I was just curious if we’ll get to see the explanation/clarification comments when the survey is done?
January 13th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
I am impressed at the number of guys who have taken this survey. In point of fact my two sisters badgered me about this quiz for almost a week before it opened, to appease them, and try to make a difference at the same time, I completed the quiz. Some of those questions were hard for me to answer, not because I hadn’t the experience for them or that I misunderstood, but that the answer was uncomfortable to give. Sometimes the truth hurts to take, and hurts almost as much to give.
But I am hopeful that it will do some good in the world. There seems to be quite the shortage of modest girls in my region, and I would love to point them in the direction of this survey.
Brittany and ColeC, your comments I both agree with. It is an effort both on the part of the man and woman, a compromise for the betterment of both. One so that they do not cause themselves to sin, as Christ said “Committing adultery in their heart”, and the other so that they do not cause a brother in Christ to stumble.
I pray daily that Christ may lead me to a wife who is both modest and Christlike. And I pray that women in general would be more modest so that I did not have to be on guard with such high frequency, though I am never truly lax.
January 13th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
I just want to say another thankyou to everyone who has put time and trouble into completing this eye-opening survey. I am looking forward to the final compiled results, and am glad that this survey will offer a plumb-line against which to “sound” certain garments in the hopes of avoiding ever being the cause of a stumbling block to brothers and sisters in Christ(and in order to be a witness to the world). Thankyou for your approach to this (often delicate) issue; I think you have chosen to present it in a very wise, non-legalistic, non-threatening manner.
MiriamAbigail
January 13th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Alex and Brett:
Thanks so much, you guys! My sister, brother - he’s 21 and recommended this to us - and I all went over the survey. Well, anyhow, we are a Christian family and do not wear that type of stuff anyway. We are very conservative in our dress, and anyway 5 boys five girls.
Christie
January 13th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Dear Guys,
This gets down to the nitty gritty. All, I can say is it’s about time , past time actually ,that someone addresses these things. I don’t know what the survey will say, but it needs to be taken so take it guys, please! I don’t know if you have ever heard of the Christian author Lisa Bevere, but she has addressed the issue of modesty , and I know she has taught a class dealing with this & other issues for young ladies. I believe she has actually turned it in a book , as well as talking about this on tv. She told the girls in her (all girl class,) if you want to attract a whoremonger , dress like a whoremonger . If you want to attract a prince, dress like a princess. She is a modern , but modest lady. For her to use an antiquated word like whore monger was a deliberate choice. It’s an old fashioned word that says what it means! It made an impression with me & I think she got the point across.
Can’t wait to see the results. Thanks for doing & please get the resulsts out there, as many places as you can , because it needs to be heard. Sincerly, Elaine
January 15th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Wow! That is amazing! Keep up the good work, guys!
With you on the Quest,
Frodo
January 15th, 2007 at 10:41 am
I´m so excited! Even though I think that some of the questions are really silly, there´s a first time for everything and I might be surprised at the answers submitted for those questions. Anyway, I think that it should be us girls turn now. There are a few things I´d like to say to guys about modesty, even though it´s deffinitely not such a big issue for them as for us. Thanks again for having this great idea and putting it in action!
January 15th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Thanks so much for all your work in putting this survey together. I try very hard to dress modestly but I know what a girl thinks is modest is not always what the guy is thinking. I’m eagerly looking forward to reading this and possibly having to rethink the way I dress.
Also thanks to all you guys who filled it out. We girls can’t dress modestly when we don’t know what is that make guys stumble.
January 15th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
I read through all the questions, and while I agree with most of them being relevant, there are a few I have queeries with. Most of them were in the movement section. Is it really a modesty issue if your bust moves when you walk? Unless you gaffer tape them to your chest, it’s going to happen. It seems a little like you would wish girls to sit demurely at all times, so that nothing moves at all. I know in the old days women sat straight backed and weren’t allowed to scratch in public (deemed unladylike) etc etc, but if we did it now it would mean girls couldn’t play sport, couldn’t go on adventure camps, nothing if a boy was present. I think perhaps (as others have done about heart attitudes) that boys need to take a little onus on themselves and choose not to look at things that are out of the girls control. It isn’t fair to ‘blame’ girls for things like that.
January 15th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
I saw this survey on another site, and I had a look. The survey seems very restricted against women. I understand the concept of modest dress, and I use it for my daughter — not to the extremes though I see on modest dress sites. For me, I don’t want her to be the object of someone else’s fantasies (she is under 7). I make sure that she is covered. On hot days, I relax these standards (no A/C, and it can get hot here). Around the family, she is allowed to wear whatever she wants.
In the family situation, if a girl isn’t comfortable dressing how she would like (within reason), I would think it would cause her to rebel as she gets older. Also, I agree with ColeC, it isn’t mine or my daughter’s fault if a man see us and lusts after us. When we are out, we dress comfortably. We are not trying to draw men’s attention our way. I don’t like that so much burden is being placed on the girls and women. We can only control ourselves, and we would ask that the men do the same.
January 15th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Jenny and Daye: We completely agree with your concerns. Girls should not be held responsible for a man’s inability to control his mind. The fact is, men can lust after a woman clothed in a burqa. The purpose of the Modesty Survey is to provide an opporunity for Christian guys who are fighting to guard their eyes and hearts against lust to share with their sisters in Christ how they can support them in that struggle — but it all goes back to the guy’s struggle and the guy’s responsibility.
Also, it seems that you may be mis-interpreting the survey questions/statements (which are NOT the results). Please read our post: (Mis)Interpreting The Modesty Survey, for clarification.
January 15th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
hey.
I think after the results are shown you shoul post examples (with pictures too) of modest dressing. From your survey, it seems like everything could be immodest. So, showing girls that are many styles of clothe/outfits that could be modest might be encouraging. As a girl, it can be really tiring too keep looking for clothe when it seems like all stores like to sell immodest dressing.
thanks
January 16th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Thank you two for this exciting contribution!
…having read over the questions, I am wondering why there are not some issues pertaining to MEN’s modesty from women’s perspectives. Surely the duties of modesty pertain to both genders.
January 16th, 2007 at 9:48 am
MM: That would have to be a completely separate survey, and we’d prefer to limit ourselves to one at a time. It really has been very time-consuming. However, men’s modesty is an important topic that we hope to cover in the future. Hope that clarifies things!
January 16th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Daye,
Brett nailed it. My exhortation to men as a man was to guard our thoughts, eyes, and hearts, and to avoid using women as an excuse for lust – NOT to pardon women’s immodesty or inconsideration. I’m not, and I refuse to judge you or anyone else based on their comments – but I wanted to make sure I cleared up any ambiguity. I would encourage everyone to glance over 1st Corinthians 8 & 10 which addresses wounding your brother’s conscience, the consequences of causing your brother to stumble (vs. Ch 8:9 & 11-13), and the refreshing simple freedom that we have in Christ (Ch. 10:18-33 & 11:1). God Bless!
January 17th, 2007 at 11:13 am
How ppl have taken it? Do u know?
January 17th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
This survey is simply ridiculous!
Whatever happened to just following good common sense,manners and propriety???
January 18th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Thank you for setting up this survey; I anticipate reading the results!
As it is now, if I have a question on modesty, I’ll ask my husband what he thinks and what he presumes other men will think. I dress modestly - that is one point that attracted my husband - but this survey makes me wonder what men in our church and community think about some of the clothing I have. I’m starting to see my entire wardrobe in a different light.
One thing I am sure of: if my husband REALLY, REALLY likes an outfit on me and drools when he sees me it, that outfit is definitely NOT one to wear in public!
January 18th, 2007 at 10:48 am
What about maternity modesty? I’m curious as to what men think about different maternity fashions, such as: the tight tops that look like they’re painted onto a mother’s growing abdomen; or wearing a normal-size sweater or jacket buttoned only at the bust, causing it to drape over the tummy.
January 18th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Elisabeth: This survey may seem rediculous to you, but it may not be to other people, including myself. Some people are taking this very seriously and are finding it helpful. I’m not saying that you have to agree with it, but maybe you shouldn’t post your feelings so strongly. That is just my opinion and I am in no way judging you for thinking that this survey is ridiculous.
January 19th, 2007 at 5:39 am
Elisabeth: Good common sense, manners, and propriety have been tossed aside, by a large part of our society, to give way to selfishness. The worldly mindset has influenced much of the church, much to the shame of the church.
We (those who are Christians) still have a sinful nature that struggles against the working of the Holy Spirit, causing the war between the flesh and the spirit; we know what we ought to do according to the Bible, but until we die or are raptured, we will be in the battle. Paul deals with it in Romans 7:14-25.
Reminders are good for us. We ladies have a duty toward our Christian brothers to do what is in our power - through modest dress and carriage - not to provoke lust in them. We will be held accountable for our deeds here on earth. Personally, I don’t want to have be ashamed before the Lord if He asks on Judgment Day why I purposefully dressed or acted a certain way to provoke lust in men!
That is not to negate a man’s responsibility before God not to lust.
If we ladies dress and act provocatively, it’s like setting candy out before a three-year-old and commanding him not to taste it or even look at it. Rather than teasing and tempting him with it, why not hide the candy?
January 25th, 2007 at 1:40 am
I think Mrs. Mark is on to something.
I asked my husband what he wanted me to wear.
Dresses and skirts of course!…lol
After dressing very modestly, and feminine,
(A site called
Ladies Aagainst Feminism inspired me
in the past……
and is how I found Rebelution)
We discovered that YES,
I was being treated like a lady.
Even Grocery stores were a nightmare for us,
Men were asking me if I needed help.
and wanting to start up a conversation!!
opening doors…so on ands so forth.
It was making my Hubbie jealous.
He was standing right there!
I am very overweight.
I have health problems too.
It did not make sense.
I had my Toddler in the cart and a Husband roaming around the isles with me!
My Husband and I tried our best to figure out why men were so attentive and flirtatious
toward me
And Blind toward HIM!!!!
Was it how I dressed?
How I act? WE had to figure this out!!!!
We tried an experiment.
I wore Black slightly baggy pants,
and a black Astros t shirt that covered me
past my hiney, and cross trainers
PROBLEM SOLVED.
I even wear long shorts sometimes
with my Astro shirts.
Men really don’t notice me anymore.
Be a sport- fan? or at least appear to be one?
I have NO idea what the Astros are up to anyway.
I just got the t shirt on sale at Wal-Mart.
lol
Hey, there you go…cheaper cloths bill!!!
long big T shirts, baggy pants
and below the knee shorts.
Get a state park pass while you are at it!…lol
I got one, and it has payed for itself already.
I suggest singles avoid the Television, any mall, electronics section of stores, or late night hangout scene.
Travel the road less traveled.
and you will find travelers to travel with.
Yeah, you solve alot of the problem with immodesty and Lust right there.
January 25th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Mrs. Marks: For me, I haven’t struggled too much with pregnant women. Prior to my wife being married, I don’t think I ever noticed them at all.
After seeing my wife glow as she carried our children, I did notice the attractiveness of most pregnant woman, and her joy that spills over to everything she does, but it has been somehow different, ie. not sinful for the most part.
January 27th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Jon Daley - Thanks for your answer about maternity clothes!
Jaime - I guess I should be clearer on my part about modesty: ladies should look like ladies, which means wearing feminine clothing, not gender-neutral clothes. Men treat me very well as I dress femininely and modestly, yet the good treatment is chivalry more than lust - so it seems, anyway, from my point of view.
A cardboard box with arm holes would do the job of covering me up, but it wouldn’t be feminine nor would it be modest because the oddity of my garb would draw attention to me.
I dress to please my Lord and my lord, my dear husband. What I wear in public reflects, for good or bad, on Christ and on my husband. Dressing like a lady is one way to honor them both.
Interestly, I find that when I am dressed like a lady, I act like a lady without a second thought; but when I am wearing jeans, for instance, I have to remind myself continually to sit, stand, and walk like a lady.