The author barely acknowledges the degree of cultural capital required to subvert modesty -- because that's really the interesting part here, how women are choosing to re-adopt rules that were previously deemed oppressive. But for the most part women who have that choice are women with a lot of power and privilege of their own
No disrespect, LaPed. I appreciate your thoughtful commentary but I'm not sure I agree with this observation.
It's true that modest dressing as fashion can be a symbol of privilege, but that's only insofar as it's (a) fashion, which is elitist by definition and (b) native wear for women of the creative classes. However, as Deborah points out, for many it can simply be a question of personal preference. We like it, it suits us and it's easy to wear.
The implications are that modest dressing only empowers privileged women, or that white Western women are by definition more relatively powerful than women of other cultures, and it's just not true. If you believe this is the case, try comparing our statistics for women elected to the highest office, or women studying STEM, with those of Africa or central Asia. The bottom line is that some women are emancipated and others aren't, but dressing modestly isn't necessarily a reliable indicator one way or the other.
The headscarf is a good example of this. The assumption among many Western women, not only in the US, but here in Europe too, is that it's a symbol of female oppression. Some feminists would say the same about high heels and foundation garments. All can be symbols of oppression, but they can be emancipating too. It depends on the context.
When free to do so, a woman chooses to put on a headscarf or high heels for all kinds of reasons, and only some of them are about religion or patriarchy. Maybe she does it to feel confident, maybe she does it to earn some respect. Maybe she wants to protect her hair or maybe she needs that extra couple of inches to look her male colleagues in the eye. Maybe she's required to wear either for professional reasons.
I should also point out that I've been down the body-con/figure flattering route and while it can be fun, there's that small matter of unwanted attention. As shevia says, they should learn to control themselves or wear blindfolds.
