MIDRIFF A Conversation About Modesty on Christian Campuses By Yasaman Khorsandi photo courtsey of creativecommon 18 • <strong>Collide</strong> • March 2016
Among the Christian community, modesty is often used to describe the way women should dress to prevent the opposite sex from stumbling. <strong>The</strong> word modesty, however, carries a spectrum of physical and emotional implications. For sophomore social work major and Honors College student, Heather Turner, modesty is self-motivated. “I personally dress modestly to be respected and taken seriously. I don’t want people to know my butt cheeks before they know my name.” Dress Code Christian college campuses offer differing views of modesty within their dress codes. <strong>The</strong>re is no specific dress code in the APU Student Standards of Conduct other than Clause 8.0, which states, “Inappropriate dress will not be tolerated.” Comparatively, Biola University’s dress code states, “No spaghetti strap or tank tops, no skirts, no exposed midriffs or backs, no excessively baggy, tight or low-cut clothing.” This is applied to all students, male and female. Liberty University, considered to be one of the more conservative Christian universities in Virginia, enforces a dress code with “class dress” and “casual dress.” Class dress includes long pants for men and long skirts/dresses and pants for women. Facial jewelry is prohibited on men, and reduced to small nose studs and earrings on women. “We don’t want students’ appearance to be a distraction or interruption to any environment,” said Cimber Cummings, associate director of the Office of Student Leadership at Liberty University. “We encourage them to reflect Christ in all things, including their decisions with what they wear. I believe the standards we hold for both genders are fair and equally modest.” While APU does not have a dress code, certain professors practice the freedom of enforcing their own dress codes in the classroom. Turner had a dress code in her Honors class with a female professor. “My professor said, ‘I don’t want beach attire’, which means no thighs or shoulders or baseball caps. I was really intimidated, because at the time it was August in Azusa, so it was extremely hot,” said Turner. Senior history major Kadie to drop one test grade if everyone abides by the dress code. Males are included in this dress code because they cannot wear tank tops or hats. When approached by <strong>Collide</strong> for an interview, Professor Edmund Mazza declined to comment. What do men think? Modesty, especially on a campus with no rules and regulations, is a self-motivated expression of personal fashion and values. While choice of dress can reflect individuality, it also has the ability to influence the sexual thoughts of others and their occurrences. In 2011, a research team at Ohio State University provided 283 students with golf score counters and asked them to press and record "When you realize that those people that we"re always taught were the other are just like us, then it just becomes normal. <strong>The</strong> prejudice and the other things just kind of dissipate in a natural way," Wilson said. Chakerian also had an in-class experience regarding dress code with history professor, Edmund Mazza. “It was a week into class and I was wearing a shirt covering my chest but my back was open. He took me aside and asked me to make sure it was covered next time. It was embarrassing and it was the first time I had been told that what I was wearing was inappropriate,” Chakerian said. Chakerian has had eight classes with this professor since. Professor Mazza has restructured the way he goes about dress code and now offers every time they thought about sex, food, or sleep. Research showed the average man had 19 thoughts about sex, while women had 10. In 2009, a select group of male students from Princeton University participated in a study where they were shown images of women in bikinis and tested their reactions. When the men were shown images of women in bikinis, the brain scans showed that the region of their brain associated with tools, such as hammers and screwdrivers, lit up. One researcher said the men were “reacting to these women as www.theclause.org/collide • 19
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