Over at Emes Ve-Emunah there is a discussion about a lawsuit against B & H photo, alleging that they discriminated against women in hiring salespeople. Apparently, the argument is that hiring women would have compromised their interpretation of tzniut.
Seriously? If nothing else, this seems like a terrible business decision.
Am I the only woman who feels extremely awkward and sexualized interacting with a chareidi man? I do. No matter how conservatively I'm dressed, no matter how demure I am, I always feel sexually exposed. The very act of insisting that I dress "modestly" accentuates rather than conceals my sexuality. It separates and displays my sexuality, rather than letting it recede into the background.
I speak with men all the time - for work / school / day-to-day stuff, etc. In all of the those interactions, I feel viewed as a full person (skirt not withstanding), viewed first and foremost in whatever capacity necessitates the interaction - I am a teacher, colleague, customer, etc. Sure, to some extent or another the person I'm interacting with knows that I am more than simply my role at the moment, but it's not important to the situation, so there is no focus on it.
At a certain point, covering my body increases attention to my sexuality, rather than on my whole self.
7 comments:
I had my hopes up when I clicked to this site, but unfortunately don't see much. You write well, and I hope that your blog will be informative, if not titillating.
For whatever it may be worth: Once upon a time, when I was taking an art class, the totally nude female model we were sketching elicited far, far less of a sexual interest from me than did the female students who were wearing their clothes. This included a woman who normally wore ankle-length dresses.
I certainly did not view the model as a sex object -- I viewed her as a problem to be solved, i.e., I would be graded on how well I sketched her -- just as I was graded on how well I sketched that bowl of fruit during the previous week's class.
Anonymous - I'm flattered! Please do come back; I will be posting more, and more frequently. I started the blog a while ago as a project, then started writing it as a private diary (perhaps some of that will go up later), but I'm inspired to go back to blogging for now.
Owl - thank goodness. I've got no artistic talent, so I haven't pursued such classes but I've often wondered what sketching a nude is like. That also confirms a theory I've had about clothes - to some extent, they create something hidden to wonder about.
would love to read more on these issues pls continue posting
Lawschooler - Thanks!. Let me know your thoughts as well.
Actually, in the chareidi world, I believe it is deemed inappropriate if a girl wears an extremely long skirt - because it leads one to imagine what is hidden underneath.
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