Sunday, September 15, 2024

The Supposed Clothing Of A Prostitute

The Bible does not say about clothing what conservatives might expect.  You cannot wear clothing of the opposite gender (Deuteronomy 22:5), though no clothing design could be masculine or feminine, with different styles being arbitrarily associated with men or women by cultural happenstance.  Opulent clothing and accessories like gold and pearls are condemned in the context of worshipping God (1 Timothy 2:9-10).  No, the modesty Paul prescribes here for women--and by logical extension for men--is not about avoiding the body's sensuality or covering a random amount of the skin.  It is about displays of wealth.  Proverbs 7:10 briefly brings up how an adulterous woman is dressed like a prostitute, which an evangelical might imagine is the condemnation of a certain style of clothing that accentuates the body, in this case a female body, or that is perceived as sexy (which is a purely subjective thing), but this is not what they might think.

What is the clothing of a prostitute?  The text does not say because no clothing is inherently associated with prostitution, no matter how revealing or sensual it is!  Such associations are cultural constructs that could differ enormously across time and geography.  Whatever someone who is a prostitute wears is by necessity the clothing of a prostitute.  Wearing clothing, including revealing clothing for men or women, or exhibiting the partial or total lack of it is Biblically nonsinful (Deuteronomy 4:2) and often irrelevant to being a prostitute altogether.  Men and women alike are free to display their naked or largely exposed bodies for practical or sensual, even sexual, purposes, as long as they are not participating in any immoral deeds while naked and do not hope to inspire someone else to sin--although someone could want to inspire the desire to have casual sex with them in another person, however, they cannot actually make them sin in mind or body.  An example of specifically baring one's body for nonsinful sexual reasons outside of a marital context would be as part of sexual flirtation where there is no desire for nor action of promiscuity, adultery, and so on.

A body is just a body and does not have to be used or even perceived (perception not grounding its nature) in a sexual way, however.  Full nudity before people of either gender or people other than one's spouse is not sinful and it is in no way sexual or automatically intended to be sexually enjoyed, not that the latter would make it evil by default.  Its moral permissibility is obvious from its lack of condemnation by direct prohibition or by logical necessity through an indirect command as already mentioned.  Beyond this, it is clear that it is not only permissible under Yahweh's moral nature, but that it was not even atypical in ancient Israel.  Exodus 22:26-27 says that someone who offers their cloak as security for debt is to have it returned each day before sunset because they have nothing else to sleep in.  1 Samuel 19 says Saul prophesied while naked and that he was thus regarded as a prophet, indicating that God's prophets might have quite commonly spoke in the condition that God created humans in: one of total nudity (Genesis 2:25) exalted by Yahweh (Genesis 1:31).

Furthermore, God told Isaiah to remove his clothing and remain naked for three years to show what would happen to the Egyptian and Cushite captives of Assyria (Isaiah 20:1-5).  Some might assume that this somehow really means partial nudity that does not expose the genitalia or the buttocks, but since the captives are predicted to be led about with their buttocks bared, and Isaiah is foreshadowing what will happen to them, he must have been truly naked.  God cannot tell anyone to sin if it is his nature that makes something good, evil, or permissible (James 1:13) to start with.  Deuteronomy 25:11-12 is also indirectly relevant.  It would be much easier for a woman to grab a man's genitals to defend her husband, a universally condemned action, if his body is actually exposed, including the protruding parts of his anatomy she seized.  Indeed, it would be almost impossible for a woman to do this depending on what a man is wearing.

Some might think that it is actually clothing instead of nudity that is thus sexual, in light of the logical necessity of nudity's nonsexual nature (meaning it is true/knowable in itself and independent of things like subjective experience or whether the Bible is true) and of what the Bible really teaches on the matter.  The same thing is still true of clothing logically and Biblically.  No type of clothing is sexual itself, no matter how sensually flattering it is or how much of the body it does or does not cover or how tightly, and no aesthetic category of clothing is condemned by the Bible.  Yes, someone might simply forgo clothing out of preference or because they appreciate their bodies or want to be sexually admired, not that the body itself is sexual.  However, just as nudity is not sexual, nor is any clothing, from suits and dresses to swimwear and more regardless of if someone subjectively finds them sexy.  Not even lingerie, worn often specifically with sexual intentions, is actually sexual; it is just sensual clothing commonly worn to sexually excite someone or perceived to be sexually enjoyable [1].  It is not sinful for men or women to wear lingerie, sensual swimwear, or other such things or to merely be seen or want to be seen in them.

Prostitution, on the other hand, is not Biblically permissible for either gender, as are all sins (Leviticus 21:7, 9, Deuteronomy 23:17-18), and yet whatever attire is culturally affiliated in one's community with prostitution is purely arbitrary.  A prostitute of either gender could go naked, and there is still nothing sexual or sinful about nudity--and it would not be sinful even if it was sexual itself, though it is logically impossible for simple nudity to be sexual.  A prostitute could wear something that covers their body or that showcases much or various parts of it.  There is no swimwear-like attire or dress or any such thing for female or male clothing that makes someone a prostitute or that is by logical necessity tied to the profession.  If someone does not literally have sex with people for money, regardless of their gender, they are not a prostitute whatsoever.  It does not follow from being a prostitute that someone wears anything in particular or anything at all, and if they wear even something culturally affiliated with prostitution, it still does not follow that they are a prostitute.

Sensuality is not sinful.  Sexual attraction is not sinful.  Sensuality is also broader than sexuality, so the former does not always incorporate the latter.  Men can feel and look incredibly sensual or sexy due to their bodies, which are no less beautiful than women's [2], their clothing, or a combination of these, and there is nothing sinful about this, not even in the presence of women they are not married.  The same is true of women in the inverse.  Women can feel and look incredibly sensual or sexy due to their bodies, their clothing, or a combination of these.  They are not prostitutes if their legs are visible, if they wear clothing that minimally covers their bodies, or if they want to be sexually or nonsexually admired as a physical being.  As with men, they are prostitutes only if they perform sexual acts with people for money.  Neither Proverbs 7 nor the entirety of the Torah condemns sensual clothes for women or men or disparages the human body God created.



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