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Jennie Chancey | April 13, 2013
Spot on: Recently I came across an article called “The Death of Pretty,” in which the author laments our culture’s movement from valuing “pretty” to valuing “hot.” He describes “pretty” this way: “Once upon a time, women wanted to project an innocence. I am not idealizing another age and I have no illusions about the virtues of [...]
Kelly Reins | October 13, 2012
Modest clothing is beautiful. While we each have slightly different perspectives on what is ugly, as Christian women we should try and dress in a way that is beautiful. Not elaborate or decadent or seductive, as I said, but beautiful. Carolyn Mahaney says, “[B]ecause we are created in the image of our Creator, each of [...]
Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin | August 8, 2012
A New Look at How to Glorify God in Your Body What is beauty? Some say beauty fits in a size 0. Some say beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Some say beauty is only skin deep. Some say beauty is only a quality of the heart. Some say beauty is truth. Some say [...]
Stacy McDonald | July 9, 2012
Hi Stacy, I appreciated this article, but I’m still feeling confused about the whole subject. Everyone seems to have a major difference of opinion on what is modest (Soul Surfer is a good example), so how do we as a family choose a standard and stick to it? Do you think strapless is ok if [...]
Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin | July 2, 2012
Twenty years ago, our mother walked down the Walmart Pink Isle, past all the Disney-heroine Barbies, Disney-movie-inspired vanity playsets, sequined polyester fish-tail skirts with seashells, and itchy yellow off-shoulder Belle dresses, and decided, “Not for my daughters.” We were 4 and 6, and like most little girls, were each on our quest for the holy [...]
robinphillips | May 6, 2012
In his parenting manual, Emile, the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that men and women are made differently and therefore require different types of upbringing. He espoused what today many people call a “complementarian” view of gender, which refers to the idea that the differences between men and women complement and enhance each other. . [...]
robinphillips | April 9, 2012
Douglas Wilson has some good things to say here about some of the issues upstream of the modesty debate, which echoes the concerns I raised in my article ‘Slutwalk and the Negation of Feminine Sexuality.‘ Wilson also helpfully reminds us that when a woman reveals too much flesh, it is often not because she has [...]
Jennie Chancey | February 20, 2012
From CatholicCulture.org: My daughters told me recently that modest clothing is unremarkable in itself, but remarkable in its potential effects. Ironically, the benefit of modest clothing is its transparency, so to speak. Modest clothing attracts attention neither to itself nor to the superficial qualities of the person wearing it. In fact, by not being a [...]
Jennie Chancey | February 6, 2012
From an excellent piece by Robin Phillips: Given the premium the Bible places on modesty, one would expect Christians to reject public displays of nudity on television. Sadly, however, millions of Christians have come to treat sex scenes as a normal and accepted part of their viewing habits, especially if it is only one scene [...]
Jennie Chancey | January 15, 2012
This post is intended as a lament of sorts, a lament for something in the culture that is dying and may never been seen again. Pretty, pretty is dying. People will define pretty differently. For the purposes of this piece, I define pretty as a mutually enriching balanced combination of beauty and projected innocence. Once [...]
Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin | November 4, 2011
We’re excited to announce that our new book, It’s (Not That) Complicated: How to Relate to Guys in a Healthy, Sane, and Biblical Way, is now available! For more information and to order a copy, visit NotComplicatedBook.com. Visit VisionaryDaughters.com for updates, excerpts, and special features! “How do young men and young women interact with one [...]
Stacy McDonald | August 8, 2011
The article Jennie posted a few days ago, “Modesty Helps Women Be Friends”, makes some very good points, and inspired the following post: WARNING: Before I begin, I’d like to make it clear that when I use the word “modesty”, I am neither referring to “pants vs. dresses” nor some sort of Christianized burka. The [...]
Jennie Chancey | August 6, 2011
This piece from the National Catholic Register has to be one of the best articles I’ve ever read on reasons for modesty, highlighting one I don’t think many of us consider…but one that is nevertheless very important: our relationships with other women. Though each woman may have different ideas about exactly what it means to [...]
Jennie Chancey | July 28, 2011
From Mariette Ulrich at Mercatornet: When it comes to fashion advice, it seems the young are leading the way. The study of more than 300 mothers and daughters found that adolescent girls have a powerful influence on the make-up, clothes and hairstyles chosen by their mothers…. The desire to look one’s best isn’t new or [...]
Tiana Krenz | March 24, 2011
The Wall Street Journal published a thought-provoking article this weekend, wondering out loud as to why today’s mothers-of-teenagers allow their daughters to dress and act like the Paris Hiltons of the world. With surprising honesty and clarity, the author admits that feminism might be to blame: “We are the first moms in history to have [...]
