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For an orthodox Jewish woman, the answer to that question is always yes. Women who dress modestly don’t vary the amount of skin they show by the weather. There is only one fashion season for the tznius woman. While the weight or color of the fabric might alter, the orthodox outfit of the day will always provide full body coverage, regardless of what month it is on the calendar.
For a secular woman, however, this time of year has a much different tone. Clothing stores are breaking out summer wear in full force. Fashion magazines are running articles on how to quickly tone up for warm weather styles. Weight loss companies are gearing marketing efforts towards those who want to shed their winter weight in time to hit the beaches this summer. It’s a countdown before the temperatures rise, and the big reveal happens. Who stuck to their diet and exercise regimes over the winter? Who gained extra pounds beneath bulky cable knit sweaters and snow parkas? Hot weather is the ultimate truth serum.
On the one hand, it’s unfortunate that women need to feel pressured to have a bikini ready body every summer. If they don’t make their goal, some suffer through pool parties in loose cover-ups and feel forced to decline a dip in the pool due to recently diagnosed chlorine allergies. They do their best to avoid photographic evidence of their extra baggage, and basically spend their summer hoping for an early autumn to arrive. Those women who were diligent about getting or staying in shape over the winter, revel in the body baring styles of summer. They look forward to outings that require swimwear and the compliments they are sure to receive. A woman’s weight can determine her seasonal happiness.
As an orthodox Jewish woman, it is very liberating not to be a slave to the gym or the scale. My weight is my business, and underneath my long and loose clothing, no one needs to know if I’ve put on a few pounds, or if my thighs rub together, or if my arms are two flappy bird wings. My body isn’t on display for public viewing or scrutiny. It’s great not having to get in shape for the upcoming summer months! Or is it?
One consequence of keeping covered is the tendency to let ourselves go. When we have no check points – swimsuit season, a formal event requiring skin-baring gowns – there is little incentive to focus on staying in shape. Toss multiple pregnancies and resulting weight gain into the mix, and it can be a recipe for disaster if we are not self motivated. When you are wearing a bikini in front of friends, family, and potential dates, you are going to make sure every inch is tight. When you are wearing a giant moo moo or burkini, not so much.
However, physical fitness is about more than aesthetics. Of course, we have to be pleased with our own reflections in the mirror, but our motivation should be good health and long lives. Many women want to be skinny and beautiful so that men will find them attractive and so that they can compete with other women. They are willing to spend lots of money and expend lots of effort on fad diets, in order to quickly reach their goals in time for the spring thaw.
Of course, there are plenty of orthodox women who buy into the commercialization of beauty too. Eating disorders, wasted time and money on scam products, cattiness and competition, attention seeking behavior – the frum community isn’t immune to this either. However, especially as frum women marry and grow older, I find that most of us succumb to the comfort zone of hiding beneath our modest clothing, and abandoning those fitness goals we might have once had.
Despite not putting our wares on display, we still have the obligation to take care of ourselves. We owe it to ourselves to be at our best physically and emotionally. If feeling good and looking good for ourselves can be enough of a motivator to eat right and exercise, we will have achieved what the beauty industry tells women they have to achieve, but on our own terms.
It’s all well and good to decry how the fitness, diet, and beauty industry objectifies women. However, to shun the value of fitness, diet, and beauty on those grounds is foolish. Dressing modestly doesn’t mean that we should abandon our physical health – even if dressing modestly sometimes makes it easier to ignore our state of fitness. I think that women who dress tznius have the opportunity to pass the ultimate test of positive body image. Instead of losing weight and getting fit for the viewing pleasure of other people, we can attain our health and fitness goals for no other purpose than our own benefit and satisfaction. Why should getting fit for others be more of a motivation than getting fit for ourselves? We need to believe that we are worth it.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
