Naked Feminism: Breaking the Cult of Female Modesty

Economist Bateman (The Sex Factor) delivers a stinging takedown of “the cult of female modesty” and the type of “puritanical feminism” that aims to abolish stripping and sex work. Contending that the obsession with women’s bodies and sexual behavior limits their access to education and financial independence and facilitates abuse and harassment, Bateman traces the roots of modesty culture to the rise of “patrilineal kinship structures” during the Neolithic Revolution, and documents how overpopulation concerns, warfare, and economic growth (“by secluding their daughters, a [wealthy] family can protect them from seducers”) have reinforced the belief that women need to be policed. Bateman’s core argument, however, is that women themselves have often been the gatekeepers of female behavior and dress, from Victorian respectability standards to the current strain of feminism that disparages “raunch culture” and beauty obsession, dismisses comparisons between sex work and gendered domestic labor, and asserts that ending prostitution would protect the well-being of all women. Advocating instead for a “naked feminism” that broadly embraces the concept of “my body, my choice,” Bateman makes a convincing and well-organized case. It’s a spirited rallying cry. (May)