The Modesty Survey was not intended to serve as a scientific measurement of what the average man thinks about modesty. In the strictest sense, it isn't a survey, but a discussion between Christian guys and girls who care about modesty. Over 200 Christian girls submitted their questions. In less than twenty days, over 1,600 Christian guys (12 and up) responded. Close to 200,000 separate pieces of data were collected, including 25,000 text responses.

The survey was presented in a traditional five-point Agree/Disagree format. Each participant was presented with 148 positive/negative statements and was given the options to Agree, Strongly Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, or remain Neutral. Each statement was accompanied by an optional text box for additional explanation.

You can view key explanations and demographic data in the charts and graphs below.

Approaching the Results
1.7% of the guys surveyed feel strongly that girls shouldn't show their calves. Is it now Burkha Day for all well-meaning Christian women? Absolutely not! In reading through the survey, you might have trouble finding a single item of clothing that someone, somewhere, doesn't have a problem with. So where do we draw the line?

Well, the fact is that 98.3% guys DO NOT feel strongly that girls shouldn't show their calves. If you look at the survey results you will find that 99.9% of the guys take full responsibility for themselves, and don't expect women to cover every inch of skin -- they're just asking for help.

The honest truth is this: We're not telling you what to wear -- we're just telling you what we, as guys, have to guard against. It is God's Word, your own heart and conscience, and your parents and godly friends who should help you decide what to do about it. But, to help you reach your own conclusions we've provided some excellent resources that strike a balanced, non-legalistic tone. Please take the time to explore these resources:

  • The Responsibility of Modesty (Part 2): Excerpted from the 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.
  • Free To Be Modest: Nancy Leigh DeMoss explains how living under the Ownership and Lordship of Jesus Christ, frees us to be modest.
  • Modeling Modesty: A downloadable article (PDF) in which Mary K. Mohler thoughtfully addresses eight reasons why Christian women are intentionally or unintentionally failing to model modesty. Made available through AlbertMohler.com.
Interpreting the Results
Some users may mistakenly assume that the statements that compose The Modesty Survey are the actual survey results. Actually, the statements are the survey's "questions" that were designed to elicit an agreement or disagreement on the part of the participants. As you can see above, the statement "Jeans are generally immodest, even if they aren't tight," prompted disagreement from the men who took the survey, to a tune of 77.5%. This disagreement is the results. The statement is the question. You must click on the statements to view the results.
Age Statistics
The Modesty Survey is a resource for Christians of any age. Christian teenagers (ages 12-19) comprise the height of the bell curve and provide the largest sampling of any age group. 50% of survey participants are over the age of 20, with the average age for survey participants amounting to 22.4 years. The Modesty Survey allows users to browse the results by whatever age range they choose (e.g., comparing the opinions of 17-19 years olds with the views of 26-year-olds).
School Attendance
One of The Modesty Survey's most encouraging discoveries was the marked solidarity of majority opinion across the spectrum of schooling options. In response to 99% of the survey questions home school, private school, and public school students share the same majority opinion--varying only in intensity. Private school students as a group were the most liberal and home school students as a group were the most conservative.
College Attendance
United States Overview [1436]
United States Overview
Canada [66]
21 Ontario
16 Alberta
12 British Columbia
5 Quebec
3 Manitoba
1 New Brunswick
Other Countries
51 United Kingdom
16 Australia
8 United Arab Emirates
5 Germany
4 Singapore
3 Philippines
3 South Africa
3 Malaysia
2 Brazil
2 Ireland
2 New Zealand
1 Bahrain
1 Belgium
1 Benin
1 China
1 Estonia
1 Finland
1 Japan
1 Korea, Republic of
1 Netherlands
1 Norway
1 Paraguay
1 Switzerland
1 Tunisia