Modesty: Is it in the Mind or in the Method?

I love watching National Geographic, as I wish to NOT be ignorant of the world. It occurred to me today while watching one such video about a Congolese family that this woman, with her beautiful head wrap but her breast hanging out as to feed her child is a perfect example of modesty. No no, stick with me.

If this woman had been in America, feeding her child openly with one breast literally hanging, she would have been on the receiving of some very nasty glares and possibly even asked to cover her self. We have been so indoctrinated as to over-sexualized everything to the point that we see "BREAST!" before we see "feeding". WHOA! Breastfeeding tangent, sorry.

What I am trying to get at though is that THIS:

(check out that awesome head wrap!!)

is infinitely  more modest than, say, THIS:

(psst! I can see your nipples!!!)

Despite the fact that photo two COVERS more than photo one, photo two has the INTENTION of being sexy. AND guess which one would be deleted from a Facebook account. Yuppers! If you guessed photo one, give yourself a hand. If not, you have obviously not been paying attention to the news.


I guess what I am really trying to get at is this. You could cover every inch of skin and be LESS modest than say... me wearing my sarong tied around my waist to cover my butt and thighs at the beach. It's all about intent.

(aside.... I really thought that this would have come out more eloquent but for some reason words fail me today. Calliope, you have failed me! )