This double standard is written into the laws of some countries. In Saudi Arabia, women’s sexual freedom has been effectively removed because of the long list of things they’re forbidden to do, including driving, mixing with men in public and travelling without a chaperone or a man’s permission. Although this takes repression to an extreme, the expectation of female modesty runs through many of the world’s major religions. The hijab and burqa worn by some Muslim women are demonstrations of this. The orthodox Jewish concept of tzniut similarly requires both sexes to cover up their bodies, but
...more
