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.

This is just a quick post to clarify several confusing issues that may have been misunderstood by a small number of our audience:

1.) The statements that compose the survey are not “our” statements or the survey results. They were submitted (as questions) by 215 girls from around the world.

2.) Whether a statement calls something modest, immodest, or “a stumbling block” does not necessarily reflect the view of the girl who submitted the question or the view of TheRebelution.com and the survey team. It is only designed to elicit an agreement or disagreement on the part of the participants.

Please refrain from judging the modesty survey based on the statements the participants are evaluating, since they give little indication of the actual results of the survey.

3.) The survey results (which are not yet available in any form) are not laws. We expect young people to make intelligent, loving, and responsible choices. To equip them to do so, we’re simply facilitating a discussion. No one controls how the guys respond to the different statements and none of the statements have complete agreement or disagreement.

Participants have complete control to agree or disagree (even strongly) with any statement. They also have the option to remain neutral on any of the questions posed. Finally, they can offer as much explanation and clarification to their answer in a text box below, even after they have submitted their response.

You’ve heard correctly. The target launch date is January 5th, 2007 (emphasis on target). Over the holiday break several exciting opportunities arose for men and women Alex and I highly respect to review the survey and guide the presentation of the questions. Through this feedback we have been able to craft a focused and relevant list of final questions and substantially reduce the time necessary for guys to complete the survey. But this has added time to the preparation process.

We are still working hard to launch the survey by this evening, however, if that is not possible we may postpone the launch until Monday (January 8, 2007), which will also allow us to run several beta test groups through the survey to work out any remaining bugs over the weekend. Thank you all for your patience.

Some of you may be familiar with the exciting ministry taking place through PurityGirls.com and PurityGuys.com — websites devoted to proving that guys and girls committed to purity of heart, mind, and body still exist. Well, behind both of these websites is founder and designer, Candace Perry.

Candace is a 25-year-old Christian champion of purity, modesty, and waiting on God’s timing for romance. In 2004 she conducted a survey of 100 guys on the topic of — you guessed it — modesty. Today she is throwing her experience and influence behind TheRebelution.com’s Modesty Survey to help spread the message of modesty to an even wider audience.

She will be joining the Modesty Survey Team as a consultant and help promote the survey to her audience. Please join us in welcoming Candace Perry to the team. It is an early Christmas present for all of us.

The question submission deadline for the Modesty Survey was today. In less than two weeks 215 Christian girls from around the world submitted 360+ questions on every modesty-related topic imaginable. Katrina Rowe, our Female Survey Coordinator, did an excellent job organizing the question submission process.

But the work is not done. Not even close. Our Illustration Wing, headed up by Sarah Harris (our sister), is wrapping up their search for photo-illustrations of each item of clothing referenced in the submitted questions. This will make it 100% easier for the guys taking the survey to understand what is being asked.

David Boskovic, our entire IT Department, is programming an incredible survey system with a secure (anonymous) login process that will keep track of which questions each participant has answered and which ones they haven’t. This means that no matter how many times someone logs-in and out they’ll always be able to pick right back up where they left off.

Finally, the 360+ questions must be searched for redundancy, edited for clarity, and organized for final presentation in the survey. Not every submitted question will be included in the final survey and most questions will be edited. Our goal is to make it relatively easy for guys to address each of the topics raised by the submitted questions.

Thank you all for your enthusiasm and support. We are getting more and more excited about this project everyday. It is going to be a tremendous blessing to both guys and girls. If you haven’t already, please consider placing one of our snazzy sidebar ads on your website or blog.

Alex, Sarah, and I pose our laptops, papers, and highlighters during a late-night, modesty survey brainstorming session.

+ View the Survey Results +

The Modesty Survey is an anonymous discussion between Christian guys and girls who care about modesty. Hundreds of Christian girls submitted their questions and over 1,600 Christian guys (of all ages) submitted 150,000+ answers—including over 25,000 text responses. The results will be released on St. Valentine’s Day.

The Modesty Survey Story

The Modesty Survey began when two girls on The Rebelution Forums separately suggested an anonymous discussion on modesty between members of the Guys Only forum (The Garage) and members of the Girls Only forum (The Attic).

15-year-old Katrina Rowe was the inspirational force behind the idea, agreeing to oversee preliminary data collection and inviting girls in the Attic to submit their questions for the guys. In little more than a week, she received over 360 questions from hundreds of Christians girls around the world.

The overwhelming response to the idea of a modesty discussion confirmed its importance. Some Christian girls have fathers or brothers to provide godly input on their attire, but many more have none. Many girls seem oblivious to the destructive effects of immodest attire on their brothers in Christ. Others desire to honor God and to protect their brothers, but don’t know where to start.

As we began to process and organize the questions, we immediately realized the need for a secure survey system to collect and track guys’ answers. 18-year-old David Boskovic, our entire IT Department, developed the system from scratch.

Work continued. Candace Perry of Purity Girls joined the team as a consultant, sharing her experience with modesty surveys with us newcomers. Meanwhile, Sarah Harris (our dear sister) coordinated the tracking down of definitions and tasteful photo-illustrations for almost every item of clothing in the survey.

The Modesty Survey launched on January 8th and remained open until January 28th. Again, the response was overwhelming. Over 1,500 Christian guys (12-50+) submitted 160,000 answers—including over 25,000 text responses.

Results to be Released on St. Valentine’s Day

One of the purposes of The Modesty Survey is to allow Christian guys to express their gratitude to their sisters in Christ who strive to dress modestly—to let them know that their efforts are both noticed and appreciated by their brothers in Christ.

To symbolize this, we will be releasing the survey results on February 14th, St. Valentine’s Day, as a gift to all Christian girls, and especially to those whose inner qualities of godliness, humility, and love express themselves in their outward attire.

What You Can Do Now

Pray for The Modesty Survey. The survey has closed, but there is much work yet to be done. Over 160,000 answers and 25,000 text responses must be processed and finalized. Pray for the Survey Team as we continue to work. Pray that God would give us wisdom and discernment as we make decisions. Pray that God will use The Modesty Survey powerfully, to glorify His name and to bless His children.

Keep reading the blog. Over the next two weeks, we plan to post special articles and resources on the topic of modesty. We may even share some of the best text responses from the survey itself. You won’t want to miss these posts.

Spread the word. Tell your friends about the The Modesty Survey. The more people who hear about it, the more who will, we pray, be blessed and equipped by the results. Word-of-mouth is the best way to spread the word, but if you want, you can also place a snazzy ad on your website or blog.

Finally, if you are a Christian guy, whether you participated in The Modesty Survey or not, your greatest contribution to this effort may be to sign the Modesty Survey Petition—and it will take just seconds of your time.

Additional Modesty Resources

• The Soul of Modesty: C.J. Mahaney’s heart-focused, grace-filled, gospel-centered audio message on the topic of modesty. Made specially available for free download by Sovereign Grace Ministries.

• The Responsibility of Modesty (Part 1): Excerpted from the not-yet-released survey results, a 20-year-old Christian man shares a powerful summation of men’s responsibility in this area.

• The Responsibility of Modesty (Part 2): Excerpted from the not-yet-released survey results, a 22-year-old Christian man shares an insightful analogy explaining the responsibility of women to protect their brothers in Christ.

• The Purpose of Clothing: John Piper explains both the negative and positive messages God communicated by clothing Adam and Eve after they fell into sin.