Debating "Christian Cleavage"

An eye-catching headline floated across my Facebook wall yesterday containing the words “Christian Cleavage.” Curiosity compelled me to investigate. One definition of the word “cleavage” suggested it might have been about church splits. It was not; rather it was the title of a blog about standards of modesty in women’s apparel, as I originally suspected. Since that is a subject that has drawn my attention in the past (pardon the double entendre), I linked to the original post and read it with interest initially, then with disappointment. The blog writer, Jayson D. Bradley, took it upon himself to apologize for what he considered to be generations of misguided teaching about the need for modesty in women’s apparel.

Bradley disagreed with the idea often advanced that because males are visually stimulated, it is incumbent upon women to avoid dressing in a way that might “stimulate.” This has been the accepted wisdom since the introduction of the fig leaves as coverings after the Fall in the Garden of Eden. Bradley suggests that it is unfair to place the responsibility for a man’s sin on any random woman he happens to gaze upon. Several female respondents to his blog thanked him for relieving them of this onerous accountability issue.

One female responded differently; she reminded Bradley that even he mentioned that all believers are admonished to avoid placing a stumbling block in another’s path. She argued that dressing in an alluring way represented an example of that kind of behavior. Bradley responded to her saying, “I am ALL for modesty. I am not for men deciding for you what your convictions should be based upon their proclivities.” This statement betrays a fundamental lack of understanding what modesty means. The Greek word the Bible uses when admonishing women to dress “modestly” is cosmion from cosmos which implies order versus chaos. Women should not dress in a way which creates chaos in men who see them. This standard may change somewhat from culture to culture and time to time, but pretty much every honest interpreter can see that certain modes of fashion are not modest in the sense that they do cause chaos.

One of the ways the Greek word cosmion has come into English is “cosmopolitan.” It is ironic what cosmopolitan has come to mean in popular culture as represented by the magazine by the same name. Women who do wish to attract men know exactly how to dress to accomplish their goal; if they have any doubts, Cosmo will clear them up. It seems disingenuous for modern women to say that attire is not a factor in how they are perceived, or that they are not at least partly responsible for perpetuating the blatant eroticism of our culture.

It seems that Bradley is missing something that is obvious to me. Even in our admittedly licentious culture, the excessively short skirt, the excessively tight top, the excessively deep plunge of the neckline is considered alluring. A woman who is not advertising should not dress to excess. There is almost no good thing under Heaven that cannot be abused by going to excess.

Curiously, the word modesty is in the same family as moderation. The Bible teaches that eating, drinking, working, playing, and yes, dressing must all be done with moderation in mind. Perhaps it would help if a woman were to ask if her attire is moderate in its exposure. This cannot simply mean saying, “I’m not as bad as her,” pointing to the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine. It is not good enough to be just a little less wrong than the culture, it is necessary to be at least a little more right than the culture. So, I beg to differ with Jayson Bradley: it is a Christian woman’s responsibility to maintain Biblical modesty.