Monday, June 4, 2012

20. You're Proud to be a What?

A prude. Yeah, you read that right. But first, what, exactly, is a prude?

"Prude:  A woman who shows extreme modesty." - Merriam Webster's dictionary (online)

So what does it mean to be a prude? To me, it means dressing, acting, speaking, and thinking modestly. Short shorts are out. Being extremely flirtatious and slutty is out. Trash talking and telling inappropriate jokes is out. Thinking about impure things is out (as far as our minds can control. Sometimes thoughts just come to us. Whether we entertain them or not is the issue... Perhaps a post on this later?) It may seem difficult, but it has its rewards.

For example - while everyone else is spending time worrying about how their rear ends look in those shorts that are disgustingly similar to underwear, you are not worried about it. You're comfortable in your own skin, and your own clothes. While everyone else is worrying about if so-and-so likes them or if they're attractive enough, you can be confident that the way you act is attracting the right kind of person - the kind that you could end up spending your life with. While people are talking trash and telling crude jokes, you can be sure that people will not have a sullied idea of who you are because your words are uplifting, encouraging, and not full of four-letter rubbish words. And while everyone is lusting, you can be sure that your heart stays pure for your future spouse, and that the Devil will not have a hold of you.

So this all sounds great, right? So why is there this bad connotation that is tacked on the word, 'prude?' It must be that people think that the only way to have fun is to be immodest, impure, and reckless. I assure you, this is not true! I can assure you that you're not missing out on anything of importance, and you certainly aren't losing opportunities to have fun. 

People like to seek attention. Many young men and women today find that they get a lot of attention from being immodest. Guys stare at girls' chests when their shirts are too low or too tight - or both. Men get attention when they talk trash about people. But this attention isn't positive attention that they are receiving. And although they should know better, they keep on doing this. When I dress modestly, people notice me. But it's for all the right reasons. People don't think of me as a sexual object because I'm not putting that into their mind. They don't think of me as disrespectful because I don't make it a habit to talk badly about people. People don't think I'm a whore because I am not promiscuous, and I don't show off my body. I have a good reputation because of this.

There is also the issue of dignity. What kind of dignity do you expect to have when you degrade yourself and diminish your self-worth to that of a sex object? You become an object for other people to look at, admire (for the WRONG reasons), use, and throw away. You are no longer considered a person with feelings. You're considered a person with a hot body and who doesn't mind being used.

What you may not realize is that when you are immodest, you also are leading others to sin. Your immodest clothing and behavior leads people to lust. Your immodest speech leads others to think of people in that manner, and gossip spreads quickly. Your immodest jokes not only lead people to think about things that should be saved for marriage, but also leads people (perhaps younger people who look up to you) to believe that it's okay to talk about such things that are as sacred as sex and relationships. (YES! Sex is sacred! Post on this later too, maybe?) You have to think about not only the consequences on your own soul, but on those around you as well!

So will you be a proud prude with me? Will you stand up for dignity and for your own self worth? Who knows, maybe someone who isn't living the proudly-prude life may see you happy and want to join us! :D I will be uploading a post soon with a bunch of great modest outfits for summer and another for appropriate dress for Mass! Stay tuned!!

Wow! What a long and detailed post! If there's anything that I may have missed that you want to see in this post, leave it in the comment section and I might add it to the post!

{doGtoGevI}

God Bless!

~Kylie~

5 comments:

  1. You are right when you say that modesty is about dignity and self-worth. Thank you for saying this.

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  2. Hi, and welcome to the Catholic blog directory. I'd like to invite you to join us for Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival which is a weekly gathering where Catholic bloggers share posts with each other. This week's host post is at http://rannthisthat.blogspot.com/2012/06/sunday-snippets-catholic-carnival_09.html

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    1. Thanks, I'll be sure to check it out! :) Let me know if I can ever contribute or help with the carnival! Feel free to email me or tweet me (I think you can find my email on here... I'm not sure haha)

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  3. Prude also has an images of being boring and dull but to me that not the case.
    Also i think in dressing modestly you can be your true self as there is no pressure to conform to society!

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  4. I definitely agree that it has a bad connotation, and althoguh it's hard to shake, I'm trying to show that being modest and a prude is actually beautiful. See Proverbs 4:23 :)

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