Friday, December 01, 2006

Skanks

Lately, Britney Spears has taken to running the party circuit with hotel-heiress-with-no-discernable-job-skills Paris Hilton, no doubt letting off some presumedly obligatory steam following a divorce from her brief and pre-nupped-out-the-wazoo marriage to some guy whose name is not worth remembering at the moment. Judging from the photos of Britney getting out of the car, she has apparently decided not to wear undergarments beneath her skirt. A colleague of mine (who probably spent too many months at sea during his misspent youth in the Navy) has obtained these photos, which are spreading across the Internet like a rash. That they leave little to the imagination does not necessarily make them a near occasion of sin, since most people look better with their clothing on than off, especially when they are not posed in a very artistic manner (to say the least). That does not excuse a prolonged examination, which they did not get from this writer. (I'll have to hold out for the real thing, preferably when married, Deo volente.)

We should not be surprised by any of this. As today's video commentary by Michelle Malkin demonstrates, these Hollywood types are not above being vulgar in public, and we are not above glorifying them with our attention. One more reason to cease watching music award shows on television, inasmuch as it is no longer about the music. And the bad example that is set, like the dung heaped along with it, runs downhill from there. Our public schools allow young girls to dress like tramps, and more than a few weenie pastors allow young female lectors to wear their skirts halfway to... well, kingdom come. The desparate-to-be-hip major retailers give little choice for modesty in casual wear, as any set of jeans worthy of fashion must have a waistline that delves ever farther below the navel. This makes it difficult to keep a shirt tucked in, assuming the shirt is long enough to be tucked in at all, thus giving us all the occasional little peek. As if we cannot generate enough excitement in our lives.

Now I know there are alternatives out there, and if enough of you take time out from reading nothing but the usual A-list blogs, I would be eternally grateful if you would submit your links to these possibilities in the comments box. They will get the attention they deserve.

And yes, Mrs Malkin has some timely woman-to-woman advice for Britney, as only a "classy dame" like Malkin can do (as she did for women everywhere in a July 2004 speech entitled "Standing up to the 'Girls Gone Wild' culture"). And yes, it does involve Britney giving consideration (albeit for once in her life) to her two small children.

This week's tip of the Black Hat definitely goes to Michelle. Mabuhay!

7 comments:

Chris said...

It's funny you should bring up standing up to the Girls gone Wild culture.
A few years ago there was a Girls Gone Wild tour. They came to Dayton Ohio and a television station had a story on the news about it. They called Steve Koob (the head of One More Soul) who is a well known local activist against immorallity to give an interview. They interviewed him for 45 minutes or so. What clip did they choose to run during the teasers for the 11 o'clock news? Steve looking into the camera saying,"breasts are good, I like breasts."

Anonymous said...

I wrote this back in February. I have also started writing for True Girl magazine. My seventeen year old daughter started reading and enjoying this magazine before I started writing for it. It is geared for Catholic girls ages 12-19 and offers articles on fun, fashion, and faith within the context of Catholic values. A subscription would make a great Christmas gift for the Catholic teen girl on your list. Also there is a coalition of bloggers, Moms for Modesty, who are trying to increase the support for retailers who offer modest clothing alternatives for our daughters.

David L Alexander said...

Mom:

You probably meant to include this:

http://www.truegirlonline.com/

Anonymous said...

I'd post a suggestion of where to get decent clothes for girls ... If I had one ..... if I hadn't just spent two weekends looking for an outfit for my daughter that didn't make us both sick! She's going to play the harp for an Art Therapy reception and I've been reduced to making the stupid outfit myself. I'm just not that up to speed on a sewing machine but I guess that's my suggestion.

David L Alexander said...

Jane:

I'd recommend getting in touch with Colleen Hammond, author of the book "Dressing with Dignity," as well as a weblog of the same name:

http://dressingwithdignity.blogspot.com

I'd also look for resources through the "True Girl" magazine website (see above). By the way, a recent issue of Time magazine reports on the growing popularity of... sewing! Who knew?

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you actually looked! Tsk! Tsk!

Anonymous said...

Colleen Hammond...please! :P
Come on, folks, you don't need a self help book to tell you what's decent, and there are plenty of decent clothes being sold, at every price level.

If the pants, sweaters, skirts and tshirts on the market this season are tighter than is ladylike, BUY THEM A SIZE LARGER! (The waist will ride higher that way too, if the item is low-waisted.)
Don't want swaeters with low Vnecks that show cleavage? No one's forcing us to buy them! The last time I checked the stores have a full selection of turtlenecks, mock turtles and crew necks.
Sleeveless tops show too much? That's because of poor tailoring and shoddy manufacturing. In my day dressmakers knew how to design an armhole that concealed a lady's brassiere. But you can still buy a top that is a size larger than you need and tailor it, snugging up the armhole by adding darts in the armhole-to-bust area.

Another tack is to shop the misses' department rather than the junior department. The fit is fuller and the styling is more conservative.


I applaud writers like Ms. Hammond for wanting to bring back modesty, but the trouble is, Colleen has an agenda. She also seems to want to bring back a lot of other rubbish: the phoney, frail, fluttery, DISHONEST image of femininity that is better off GONE. (Hammond even goes so far in some of her lectures as to advise women to feign helplessness, in order make men feel more manly! One woman who attended a recent lecture heard Mrs. Hammond say that that whenever she travels by air, she always gets a man to fetch her bag down from the overhead rack for her, even though the nearest male may be several seats distant!)

Frankly, I'd rather emulate the woman in Proverbs 31 -- Pro 31:25 "Strength and honour [are] her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come."