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Return to Modesty
Wendy Shalit
€ 17.99
€ 17.34
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Description for Return to Modesty
Paperback. Revised and updated, this fifteenth anniversary edition reignites Shalit's claim that we have lost our respect for an essential virtue: modesty. Num Pages: 368 pages, index, notes. BIC Classification: JFCA; JFSJ1; JHBK5. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 144 x 212 x 23. Weight in Grams: 332.
When A Return to Modestywas first published in 1999, it began an important and much-needed national conversation. Wendy Shalit persuasively argued that modesty is not some hang-up we should set out to cure, but rather a wonderful instinct that, if rediscovered and given the right social support, has the power to transform society. Now, in this newly revised edition, Shalit backs up her claim with the latest trends and research to prove that the issue is just as pressing today as ever.
Unfortunately, many problems Shalit originally explored, such as date rape, harassment, and most alarmingly, the sexualisation of young girls, have only become more prevalent. Where once a young woman was ashamed of her sexual experience, today she is ashamed of her sexual inexperience. And as we continue to push the limits of what is accepted behaviour, the pressure to overcome embarrassment and discard all sense of modesty is greater than ever.
A Return to Modestyis a deeply personal account as well as a fascinating intellectual exploration into everything from seventeenth-century manners to the 1948 tune "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Beholden neither to social conservatives nor to feminists, Shalit reminds us that modesty is not prudery, but a natural instinct-and one that may be able to save us from ourselves.
Unfortunately, many problems Shalit originally explored, such as date rape, harassment, and most alarmingly, the sexualisation of young girls, have only become more prevalent. Where once a young woman was ashamed of her sexual experience, today she is ashamed of her sexual inexperience. And as we continue to push the limits of what is accepted behaviour, the pressure to overcome embarrassment and discard all sense of modesty is greater than ever.
A Return to Modestyis a deeply personal account as well as a fascinating intellectual exploration into everything from seventeenth-century manners to the 1948 tune "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Beholden neither to social conservatives nor to feminists, Shalit reminds us that modesty is not prudery, but a natural instinct-and one that may be able to save us from ourselves.
Product Details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2014
Publisher
Simon & Schuster United States
Number of pages
320
Condition
New
Number of Pages
368
Place of Publication
New York, United States
ISBN
9781476756653
SKU
V9781476756653
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-15
About Wendy Shalit
Wendy Shalit began to write A Return to Modesty as an undergrad at Williams College, where she received her BA in philosophy. She is also the author of The Good Girl Revolution and her essays on literary and cultural topics have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and other publications. Now that she is the mother of three lively and opinionated children, she is more modest and humbled than ever before.
Reviews for Return to Modesty
"Wendy Shalit’s first book, A Return to Modesty. . . created a storm when it was published nine years ago…As a veteran of pro-sex feminism who still endorses pornography and prostitution, I say more power to all these chaste young women who are defending their individuality and defying groupthink and social convention. That is true feminism!"
Camille Paglia "Her book has touched a nerve in a society overdosed on sex...Shalit defends...compellingly, shame, privacy, gallantry, and sexual reticence"
Tamala M. Edwards
Time
"Ms. Shalit marshals impressive evidence from philosophers as well as the tabloids to make her case for a return to modesty
as both a sexual ideal and a strategy for greater pleasure...[a] serious yet bouncy study"
Ruth R. Wisse
The Wall Street Journal
"A Return to Modesty provides one invaluable service. There is a growing body of scholarly research on young adulthood that may, in the aftermath of Shalit's booming polemic, be more difficult to ignore."
Emily Eakin
The New York Times Book Review
"The book of the moment...makes a compelling case for the idea that the sexual revolution hasn't been entirely good for either women or men...Social workers, health professionals and others who bemoan the loss of "boundaries" in the lives of troubled girls will find a hopeful message in the book"
Shari Roan
Los Angeles Times
"The first book of its kind...to blaze down the center of the postfeminist battleground between left and right."
Norah Vincent
Salon
"[An] earnest and serious book....A fascinating subject [brought] to our attention in a fresh way."
Suzanne Field
The Washington Times
"A Return to Modesty is...so uncompromising in voice and stance that one is tempted to think of its author as Simone de Shalit or Wendy Wollstonecraft, but make no mistake: she imitates nothing and no one...Every page of this book [is] wise, fresh, and funny, sparkling with her special brand of astringent charm"
Florence King
National Review
Camille Paglia "Her book has touched a nerve in a society overdosed on sex...Shalit defends...compellingly, shame, privacy, gallantry, and sexual reticence"
Tamala M. Edwards
Time
"Ms. Shalit marshals impressive evidence from philosophers as well as the tabloids to make her case for a return to modesty
as both a sexual ideal and a strategy for greater pleasure...[a] serious yet bouncy study"
Ruth R. Wisse
The Wall Street Journal
"A Return to Modesty provides one invaluable service. There is a growing body of scholarly research on young adulthood that may, in the aftermath of Shalit's booming polemic, be more difficult to ignore."
Emily Eakin
The New York Times Book Review
"The book of the moment...makes a compelling case for the idea that the sexual revolution hasn't been entirely good for either women or men...Social workers, health professionals and others who bemoan the loss of "boundaries" in the lives of troubled girls will find a hopeful message in the book"
Shari Roan
Los Angeles Times
"The first book of its kind...to blaze down the center of the postfeminist battleground between left and right."
Norah Vincent
Salon
"[An] earnest and serious book....A fascinating subject [brought] to our attention in a fresh way."
Suzanne Field
The Washington Times
"A Return to Modesty is...so uncompromising in voice and stance that one is tempted to think of its author as Simone de Shalit or Wendy Wollstonecraft, but make no mistake: she imitates nothing and no one...Every page of this book [is] wise, fresh, and funny, sparkling with her special brand of astringent charm"
Florence King
National Review