The Delight of (a Certain Type of) Decadence

You might be considered old-fashioned if you assert that the most sexy clothing worn by the opposite sex is their winter garb. What do mittens, a stocking cap, and a scarf have to do with "sexy?" Old-fashioned fogies like yourself might retort that there is mystery in modesty, and that such mystery unlocks true beauty. How is that possible, especially for the physical beauty that depends so heavily upon sight? Well, a scrooge of clothing etiquette like yourself would reply that mystery opens the way for power, pursuit, and privilege.

In an age that virtually coerces the masses into sheer buttnakedism, an individual shows remarkable power in showing the ability to veil beauty and reveal it as one's discretion. The "right to choose" gains new meaning in this sense. The pursuit of women by men is a static feature of human relationships, but the extent of that pursuit will always be a variable. When a woman's top resembles a double-barreled water balloon launcher, about to be pulled back and let go, she makes the pursuit way too easy. As people guard their hearts and only allow their emotional vulnerability to slowly expand over time, so they must guard their bodies and only allow physical vulnerability to slowly expand over time. In prolonging the typical pursuit, romantic relationships gain a degree of privilege. The male, in his state of delayed gratification, comes to share in the female's respect for her own body and regains his own humanity in learning to care for the heart as well. The female, likewise, comes to appreciate the effort of a male to restrain his physical impulses for her sake. In keeping the proverbial princess in her tower, the male learns how to proceed with valor for the sake of his beloved and the female learns how to wait with patience for the sake of her beloved.

The power of mystery was largely lost in a 20th century modernist culture that devalued the human individual. Evil socialist impulses robbed people of their dignity and made them cogs in the societal machine. Conversely, the reigning capitalist paradigm, applied to human beings, made them as valuable as the social market dictated. Consequently, human beings were worth as much as their weight in butts, boobies, and ding dongs. In addition, the vacuous theories of Darwinism and social utilitarianism turned humans into animals and made them as valuable as the social and sexual "utilities" they offered.

Hence, the following description of certain women by Evelyn Waugh in his book The Loved One (from the 1940's) is incredibly refreshing:

"She was the standard product. A man could leave such a girl in a delicatessen shop in New York, fly three thousand miles and find her again in the cigar stall at San Francisco, just as he would find his favourite comic strip in the local paper; and she would croon the same words to him in moments of endearment and express the same views and preferences in moments of social discourse. She was convenient; but Dennis came of an earlier civilization with sharper needs. He sought the intangible, the veiled face in the fog, the silhouette at the lighted doorway, the secret graces of a body which hid itself under formal velvet. He did not covet the spoils of this rich continent, the sprawling limbs of the swimming-pool, the wide-open painted eyes and mouths under arc-lamps. But the girl who now entered was unique. Not indefinably; the appropriate distinguishing epithet leapt to Dennis's mind the moment he saw her: sole Eve in a bustling hygienic Eden, this girl was a decadent."