Laura Wood at The Thinking Housewife has a post about the bikini. She has posted a video of a former television actress, Jessica Rey, who has started a movement on modesty, although this movement has been around for a while, so she's following rather than leading.
Now, first of all, the bikini is an American icon, however it may reflect on the culture. It has adorned songs, movies, photographs and movie stars. It is with this understanding, and this nostalgia, that bikini critiquing should take place, and with a little tongue in cheek. Rey does acknowledge the history of the bikini in American culture, but she doesn't acknowledge the nostalgia of the bikini.
The cute song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" is in its own way about modesty, or how to manoeuvre around the immodesty of the bikini. Rey sites this song, and does state that this is about the young girl trying to protect her modesty. But again, she rams through the charm of the song, and the spirit and era of the America in which it appeared.
It was sung in the heydays of the 1960s by a teen pop idol Brian Hyland:
She was afraid to come out of the locker
she was as nervous as she could be
she was afraid to come out of the locker
she was afraid that somebody would see
Two three four
tell the people what she wore
It was an Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
that she wore for the first time today
an Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
so in the locker she wanted to stay. [The rest of the lyrics here].
Rey says that the alternative to immodesty should not be frumpy. Yet, she appears on stage giving her speech in a dull get up. Her hair is long and disheveled, she is wearing thick, unattractive, red glasses (so many to chose from, and that is what she found?), her skirt and blouse, despite some embellishment (the skirt has a ribbon, and the blouse patterned) have no interesting pattern or cut, and she's wearing black pumps - why not white, or even pale pink to contrast her skirt?
Also notice the ugly, pumped up upper arm muscles. This is a sign of prolonged "working out." What about the soft arms which are so much more feminine?
Women who work out a lot have increased levels of testosterone. And increased levels of testosterone can lead to more aggressive behavior.
I will speculate here and say that this high energy behavior by Rey - having a family, running a business, acting as a national spokesperson for "modesty" with long-distance travels away from her family, etc. - is partly signs of her increased testosterone levels.
Also, the more aggressively one behaves, the more testosterone levels increase, both affecting each other in a cycle.
As I wrote in an email to Laura:
A business, however small, takes up a lot of time. She has an infant and is according to some sites expecting another baby.I think it is this extra boost that she gets from exercising (yet another activity that takes her away from her family).
So how is she a dutiful wife, a mother to infants and a homemaker when she's got her own full-fledged career going? This is no home-based business working out of a kitchen.
Rey talks about frumpiness in her speech:
I remember speaking to a group of teenagers in New York, and when I mentioned modesty this girl yelled from the back: "What am I supposed to dress like then, a grandma?"...But I have to admit, I saw the same thing when I first learned about modesty. I thought it meant I had to be frumpy and dumpy and out of fashion.I don't know if it is a lack of fashion, or if it is her crew who gave her this advice. But, if the alternative to immodesty is to dress in a bland style, why should any woman listen to her?
She ends her speech with "We were all made beautiful, in His image."
It is then her Catholicism that she's espousing, rather than a search for a cultural alternative to the ugliness around us. I don't think she's interested in beauty. Or rather, she is interested in beauty as a way to expose its weaknesses, in a puritanical way, rather than to demonstrate its great life-affirming strength.
There is a zealous desire to stifle beauty in our culture, from all sides. It looks like Rey is part of that.
Yet, in the contradictory way that is common to purists, what she calls modesty is not that at all.
Laura writes: "I wouldn’t call [Rey's swim suites] modest, except by today’s aggressively revealing standards."
There are one or two pieces from Rey's collection which resemble 1920s style dress/swimsuit. The rest are standard one piece suits which can be found at any store (Sears, Walmart, etc.) for much lower prices.
So much for modesty. The above photo is of a very pregnant Rey, with her husband. The photo is posted at a public site of maternity and wedding photographs, for the whole world to see.
Again, I keep wondering if Rey is doing a publicity blitzkrieg, so that people will know her swimwear line, and start buying. The photo is in the "Galleries" section under "Celebrities." I guess a role in unknown, forgettable TV shows makes her a "celebrity."
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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