Modesty and Chastity

PUDORE E PUDICIZIA. – Modesty belongs both to the sensory-instinctive sphere and to the conscious-intellectual sphere: in the first case, it is modesty in the strict sense of the term; in the second, a higher organization of it that enters the category of virtue and is called chastity.

I. INSTINCTIVE P

Nudists regard p. as a purely social convention, a taboo originating in primitive forms and fundamentally arising from the custom of going clothed. It would be contrary to nature, because the resistance to erotic energies developed by it would conflict with the biophysiological constitution of man. This doctrine, with its thoroughly materialistic bias, is based on a false conception of human nature that drags it down to the purely animal level. Spencer, S. Sergi, and others, in a positivistic spirit, regard p. as the evolution of an aesthetic pain experienced by one who saw himself deprived of clothing. Durkheim relates it to magic, whereby it would represent a form of defense intended to prevent harmful effluvia. W. James connects it with the sense of disgust aroused by the sight of certain parts of another’s body, a disgust transferred to ourselves through autoconversion. According to Dumas, the desire to be appreciated would lie at the basis of this feeling; Freud, on the other hand, regards it as an essentially feminine quality, originating in the anatomical inferiority of woman; finally, Guyau and Gurmont emphasize the biological function of preserving the species, which would be destroyed by sexual anarchy.

More recent studies show that p., contrary to what was held by the positivistic mentality of the nineteenth century, has the following fundamental characteristics: a) it is connected with the very psychophysical constitution of man and is therefore universal, being found among all peoples, according to the most accurate ethnological studies, and never lacking in any normal individual (v. below, no. III); b) it appears endowed with an innate character that shows it to be anterior to experience; indeed, it asserts itself as instinctive, at least as a propulsive foundation, and manifests itself as an innate tendency of the reproductive instinct itself, which defends itself against aberrations; c) although instinctive, p. does not exclude a certain plasticity common to all instincts; rather, it implies II. For finality is essential to instinct: the attainment of this end requires that instinct be able to overcome obstacles and adapt itself to the concrete conditions of its actualization. The concrete conditions to which p. adapts its prudential action vary—age, the differing erotic attraction exercised by the various parts of the body, the individual psychological type, etc. These different factors explain the diversity of forms of p. among individuals, while differences of race, environment, mentality, and prejudices account for the diversity of the various forms of p. among peoples. Far from constituting an argument against the innate and instinctive character of p., as positivism maintained, the varied concretization of its forms becomes one of the proofs of that character.

In addition to p. with a strictly sexual orientation, one finds a p. that may be called general, tending to inhibit everything contrary to the elevation of the self. To this p. may be attributed the shame Plotinus felt at finding himself constituted also of matter (Porphyry, Vita di Plotino, 1). General p. is connected with sexual p., inasmuch as degenerations in the sexual sphere are considered—and are in fact—more strongly opposed to the perfection and elevation of man. This p. forms the link between instinctive p. and p. as a virtue, with a more distinctly intellectual content.

II. P

It is directed toward circumstances (attitudes, things, thoughts) that, in relation to sexuality, assume the character of means for its actualization. Under the influence of pudicizia, these means are often intercepted in their operation; their activity is impeded in such a way as to exclude their natural end, which is nevertheless contrary to the norms of what the subject ought to be at that particular moment. Another dimension of pudicizia thus emerges: circumstances are excluded and thoughts restrained because it is foreseen that their activity would produce a violation of the moral order. This foresight, immanent in pudicizia, unites this virtue, more than any other, with the fundamental virtue of prudence.

From this immanence of prudence in pudicizia derives the latter’s characteristic mode of action, which is thoroughly prudential: it implements, for the most part, an indirect and precautionary defense, since in the sexual sphere a psychological insufficiency to master the instinct is observed. If human education is the actualization of man’s potential values in their natural hierarchy and therefore the affirmation of spiritual values over matter, one may rightly conclude that the goodness of an education is measured by the development and refinement it brings to pudicizia, which, more than any other operative habit, tends to affirm the spirit. Education in p. must be indirect, because direct education would necessarily imply directing attention toward the objects whose attractiveness p. has precisely the task of attenuating. Opposed, therefore, to the dynamism of pudicizia are the theories of «complete enlightenment» in the sexual sphere and of the educator’s non-intervention in inhibiting the individual’s free expansion (Adler). Although indirect, education in pudicizia must be positive: by preparing that spiritual atmosphere which, besides preventing degradation in the sphere of brute sexuality, will make easier those revelations necessary at the proper time and with that gradation required in order always to remain on the prudential line of p. Even before the sexual instinct arises, and therefore before p. in its complete sense, those secondary individualizations of pudicizia (attitudes, reserve, propriety in actions, words, and thoughts) should be prepared in the child’s mind and conduct; these will channel its development, like an already prepared path, when it appears with a formally sexual orientation.

Pudicizia influences not only the pedagogical and moral elevation of the individual, but also has a social value, insofar as its violations lie at the basis of very many others addressed by the penal codes; and the lesser or greater denial of it inevitably leads, through the psychological law of the correlation of dynamisms, to the domination of instinct consequent upon the humiliation of reason before it, and to the disintegration of society, founded essentially upon the rational inhibition of instincts represented by legal norms.

For the evolutionists, who postulate the origin of man from the animal through a slow process of evolution, modesty does not exist among primitive peoples. Spencer, for example, speaks of it quite clearly in his work Principles of Sociology, when discussing primitive relations between the sexes. He furthermore considers the theory of primordial promiscuity unfounded and rejects it, because, in his view, the principle of force prevails in sexual relations. This mentality is approached by Corso when, in connection with the three principal hypotheses concerning the origin of clothing (utilitarian, moral, and aesthetic), he categorically dismisses the moral one. For Biasutti, too, modesty has little connection with clothing.

In view of the evolutionists’ method of proceeding, one may ask what scientific foundation their assertions have: how, then, should scientific research into modesty and, in general, the sexual ethics of primitive peoples be conducted? This question was already raised by Mohr in his investigations concerning the peoples of East and Central Africa (v. BIBLICA) and resolved as follows: the object of such an inquiry is not the actual intimate life of these peoples, as certain authors have unscientifically maintained. Among these are to be counted the aforementioned Corso and Biasutti. The final object, at least, is not to illustrate their observance of intimate morality. Its proper object must instead be sexual ethics; that is, one must determine how the moral conscience of this or that people regulates intimate life and how it judges failings in this regard. Now, although knowledge of sexual life and morality provides much material, the fact remains that the moral conscience of a people manifests itself essentially and properly in its unwritten laws and traditional customs—investigations in which sociology and comparative jurisprudence cannot be disregarded. Moreover, every conception of intimate ethics must be connected with the culture and the cultural complex to which it belongs, in order to explain the concrete variations observed among different peoples. If systematic studies of ethics in general are rare, those concerning this delicate specific field are rarer still.

These problems, treated on the basis of empirical data and with all the peoples of the world in view, were examined by E. Westermarck in his works The History of Human Marriage and The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas; by Crawley in The Mystic Rose. A Study of Primitive Marriage and of Primitive Thought Concerning It; by Schmidt and Koppers in Peoples and Civilizations. Sociology and Economics of Peoples; and by Schmidt in The Origin of the Idea of God, where they are connected, as it is now possible to do, with their cultural complexes (v. BIBLICA).

The sexual ethics of primitive peoples must be distinguished into premarital and marital ethics. Marital ethics is not dealt with here (v. INCEST; MARRIAGE; MARRIAGE; MONOGAMY; POLYANDRY; POLYGAMY; PROSTITUTION), but rather premarital ethics. With regard to the latter, one must observe whether premarital sexual intercourse is permitted or not; if it is not permitted, whether it is merely disapproved of or also regularly punished. It must then be clarified how a premarital pregnancy is treated: whether it is regarded as containing nothing reprehensible, or whether only pregnancy is prohibited while intimate intercourse is permitted; whether it is punished with loss of property or life, lightly or severely. No less significant is determining whether freedom of intimate relations before marriage is restricted for both sexes or for only one. It is also important to know whether society takes care of the moral protection of young people before marriage and what this action consists in. Finally, one must ask whether virginity is specially esteemed, possibly together with its explicit verification before marriage through some kind of test. Now, among the ethnologically oldest peoples, who have also been studied from the standpoint in question in Fr. Schmidt’s aforementioned work The Origin of the Idea of God, it is incontrovertible that among quite a few of them the premarital chastity of the young woman is required, most often as a command of the Creator. This is the case, for example, among the Maidu of California.

Among those peoples, moreover, who display more degraded customs in this regard, the young man is compelled to marry the girl as soon as he has made her pregnant, so that no child may be born outside marriage, since having children outside marriage is considered a disgrace that falls upon the mother and often leads to repudiation and other punishments. Thus, among the Koryaks of northeastern Asia, if a girl becomes pregnant before marriage, she goes to give birth in the forest, kills the child, and buries it in the earth or snow. The seducer is beaten by the girl’s relatives. Indeed, in ancient times the incident could even give rise to a war between the two families. There is more: for some of these peoples, among whom free intercourse between young people of the two sexes is permitted before marriage, it is evident that such licentiousness is the result of foreign influence: for example, among the Bambuti Pygmies of the Ituri in Africa, who, as their explorer Fr. Schebesta demonstrated, have unfortunately imitated their Negro neighbours (Manvu, Balesi, and Mvuba). In conclusion, the premarital chastity of all ethnologically oldest peoples is joined with monogamous marriage, entered into for the most part freely by the young people (v. MONOGAMY).

But does the duty of premarital chastity correspond to an education in modesty and to a favourable environment? The answer must be affirmative. Among the Pygmies of French Gabon (Africa), when a boy noticed the effects of puberty during sleep, he was required to inform his father. The latter washed him in the waters of the nearby river and admonished him not to abandon himself to forbidden pleasures; then he showed him the women whom he was particularly to respect: his mother, sisters, and cousins. Similarly, at puberty the daughter was cared for and admonished by her mother and for a certain period was taken into the forest, where she was given prohibitions analogous to those imposed upon the boy. None of these peoples, as Fr. Schmidt expressly notes, practises complete nakedness, not even in the hottest regions: the men and women, but especially the latter, wore a loincloth, not as an ornament, but out of modesty. Man observed this among the Andamanese whom he explored, saying that their clothing was reduced—

It is further noteworthy that men and women, but especially the latter, wore a loincloth, and not for adornment, but out of modesty. Man had observed this among the Andamanese he explored, saying that their clothing was reduced to a simple leaf, yet they attached such importance to it that the women changed it far from every indiscreet gaze, in the shade of the forest. Men and women, moreover, never bathe together. For his part, Schebesta never observed anything obscene, either among the Semang or among the Bambuti. After treating of the intimate liberty allowed to young people before marriage, a custom called arobo, he concludes by saying: “It would nevertheless be a mistake to conclude from the licentiousness of the arobo that this was a pygmy society in which camp life bore the stigma of lust or indecency. Except for some accidental but rare deviation, the Bambuti were everywhere decorous.” Among the Semang alone did he once hear obscene words from a young man who, moreover, was morally discredited; he was immediately reproved by an old man, who angrily shouted: “A sin against Carei!” (that is, against the Supreme Being), and the young man fell silent at once. They also consider it sinful to pay attention to dogs when they mate, and for spouses to have intercourse during the day, as well as for parents to approach children of the opposite sex while they are asleep; all sins for which they believe they must ask God’s forgiveness by sacrificing their own blood.

A high conception of modesty is manifested among the Samoyeds in the life of persons consecrated to God. When a boy or girl falls ill, he or she may be consecrated to Num, the Supreme Being, through the priest. The consecrated person then remains celibate for life, must purify himself or herself each week with smoke from contact with the clothing of other people, and it is certain that after death he or she goes to heaven to be with God. For one of these groups of primitive peoples, the central and northern Californians, modesty is such a lively sentiment that—in excess—the manner in which children are procreated in marriage is considered inferior, since a myth of their religion recounts how the Creator originally wished human beings to be born otherwise: only Coyote, the representative of evil and constant opponent of the good Supreme Being, is said to have established the present system of procreation. This is particularly evident, for example, in the Maidu myth. Likewise, among the peoples of southeastern Australia and north-central California, during the initiation of the young, which is a solemn act of the community, the candidates are sternly admonished to beware of sexual transgressions and especially of running after girls. From what has been said thus far, it follows that the most archaic peoples possess modesty both as instinct and as virtue, and manifest it in private and public conduct, regarding it as a moral law founded on the will of the Supreme Being, God.

Not only among the ethnologically most ancient peoples, but also among many peoples of ethnologically later civilization, premarital chastity is required of the young. Nomadic herdsmen require the bride’s virginity, with a corresponding proof at the wedding; everyone publicly rejoices in this proof with the parents, especially with the mother, because they have preserved their daughter so modest. In the contrary case, however, dishonor also falls upon the bride’s parents, while she is held in contempt, and the marriage contract becomes invalid and void. Among the Kirghiz, in such a case the bridegroom would destroy the wedding tent with his sword, tear his robe of honor, kill the horse that had carried him, insult the bride, and demand the halim (bride-price) that he had paid at the proper time. Similarly, proof of virginity is required among the Arabs, the Jews, and several Hamitic peoples of northern and eastern Africa. In his investigations into the intimate ethics of the Nilotic peoples and their neighbors in eastern and central Africa, Mohr identified three types of ethics, one of which not only prohibits all sexual intercourse before marriage, but also punishes it even when no pregnancy results. The punishment falls upon the seducer and consists of a fine, ordinarily in livestock. In addition to the fear of punishment, unmarried young people are safeguarded by having them sleep in separate houses for each sex and apart from adults. The brother, moreover, is responsible for his sister’s moral conduct, and in this respect she is particularly protected by him.

Among the Banyankole or Bahima, for example, if a girl were to have illicit relations, she would be dishonored and expelled from the clan; if she then became pregnant, the shame would follow her throughout her life. As soon as the matter becomes public, the clan curses and repudiates her. She is taken in a cradle to the shores of Lake Karagwe, in the western region of the country, where she remains until the child is born, after which she may return home. If the man who dishonored her does not marry her, she becomes a servant whom only a dishonorable man, or at most a slave, would be willing to marry. In former times the punishment, at least among the upper classes, was even more severe and also struck the seducer, if he could be captured. Both culprits were drowned, with stones tied around their necks, in the Kagera River. But matters were far worse when the king or prince married a girl and found her pregnant; then not only was she drowned, but her parents and as many members of her clan as possible were also killed. Among the Bahima of Mpororo, or Batutsi, in addition to virginity before marriage, fidelity after marriage and faithful affection between wife and husband are required. In the Sudan and other parts of Africa, for example in Dankalia, the painful operation of infibulation is employed to safeguard the physical virginity of young women. Among the Somali, a seduced girl can no longer become a legitimate bride; among the Negroes of Togo, a virgin commands a higher bride-price at marriage. Schmidt attributes to the influence of nomadic herdsmen the singular system of verifying virginity used in Polynesia and Samoa. Among the Teutons, only virgins could marry; in Persia and Circassia, a non-virgin bride could be repudiated; among several peoples of the Russian Empire, a fine could be demanded in such a case, for example among the White Russians.

If premarital chastity among young women is joined to the bride’s fidelity, a virtue required, for example, by archaic peoples and nomadic herdsmen (v. INDISSOLUBILITÀ DEL MATRIMONIO E DIVORZIO), it is easy to understand that the chastity of young men must correspond to it as well, and that both sexes require a genuine education in modesty.

Among other peoples, such as, for example, the Acciuabo agriculturalists of Portuguese East Africa, at the northern mouth of the Zambezi River, the moral code explicitly includes an intimate ethic that imposes a modest conduct upon both sexes. Fr. Schulien, who studied them while serving as a missionary among them, reports that in their language otakalia means “to commit immoral acts,” including those concerning intimate life; mikuali means “immodesty.” Just as one says otakalia when someone seduces another man’s wife or when a woman is unfaithful, so the term is also used if a man spends a long time conversing and laughing with a woman who is not his relative, if someone secretly spies on women during ceremonies or when they are alone. Merely thinking about these things is also an otakalia, and dreaming of or imagining “sexual mischief” is called oroa viabure... All these things, Fr. Schulien adds, are also called vilobo via manjazo, that is, “things of p., of shame.” Speaking of the prohibition of adultery, Fr. Schulien points out that everything leading to it is likewise prohibited. Just as one must not fantasize about intimate matters, so one must not speak of them; moreover, certain words must not be uttered in the presence of women. Women must not be mocked, nor must one deride a woman “who carries a child beneath her heart.” Indeed, if a young man, as the same missionary had noted in his notebook, sees a pregnant woman and laughs at her, his companions rebuke him, saying: “You mock that woman, while she carries a child beneath her heart. You are wicked,” and they admonish him not to speak that way again. Just as the abduction and violation of young women are forbidden, so they are required to cover their breasts for p. All instruction concerning intimate life, as well as the entire moral code, is imparted to the Acciuabo youth during initiation ceremonies and is referred to God. Indeed, Fr. Schulien, after presenting their sexual ethic and the prohibitions mentioned above, concludes with these words: “These prohibitions protect the woman and her offspring. The prohibitions are ascribed to the will of God, whom they call Mulugu,

because it is said: ‘Mulugu does not want his secrets, his manner of creating, to be seen.’”

Among the Aztecs of ancient Mexico, marriage was consummated after four days of fasting, seclusion, and penance with aloe thorns and the shedding of blood. After the first intercourse, the token of the bride’s virginity was taken to the temple. If the contrary was found, the marriage was dissolved and the wedding gifts were returned. The same was true among the Cicimei of that same ancient Mexico and in Nicaragua.

A relaxation of intimate ethics and a conduct that is little or not at all modest, on the other hand, exists among totemist peoples and among those influenced by them. It must be said, however, that among many totemist peoples too, the institution of the young men’s houses was established precisely to prevent their misconduct with the women of the tribe (v. PROSTITUZIONE). This means that, essentially, even among those peoples there is always a concern to safeguard premarital chastity and a sense of modest conduct.

From what has been presented thus far, it must be observed that, when discussing p. among primitive peoples, one must distinguish which peoples are being discussed; the same applies to the particular question concerning the use of clothing among them. Therefore, when examining the sexual ethics of primitive peoples, it is of the utmost importance to refrain from every unwarranted and facile generalization, if one truly and honestly wishes to bring into focus the entire problem, so closely connected with a clear and reliable knowledge of the living sources of their psychology.

BIBLI: H. Westermark, Origine du mariage dans l'espèce humaine, French translation, Paris 1895, chap. 5; E. Crawley, The Mystik rose. A study of primitive marriage and of the primitive thought in its bearing on marriage, London 1902, new ed. by T. Besterman, 2 vols., there 1927; H. Spencer, Principi di sociologia, Italian translation by G. Egidi, Padua 1922, pp. 68–71; W. Schmidt-W. Koppers, Völker und Kulturen. Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft der Völker, Regensburg 1924, p. 210; H. Wintzer, Das Recht Altmexico, in Zeitschr. f. vergl. Rechtswissenschaft, 45 (1930), p. 195; W. Schmidt, L'anima dell'uomo primitivo, Rome 1931, pp. 58–60; E. H. Man, On the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, 2nd ed., London 1932; M. Schulien, Peccato e riparazione presso gli Acciuabo, in Espiazione e redenzione. Atti uff. della XI sett. di cultura dell'U. M. D. C., 2nd ed., Rome 1935, pp. 66, 67 ff., 78 ff.; R. Boccasino, La religione e la morale delle popolazioni primitive, in Studium, 35 (1939), p. 7 ff.; W. Schmidt, Der Ursprung der Gottesidee. Endgostthese der Religionen der Urschler Amerikas, Asiens, Australiens, Afrikas, Münster in V. 1936, p. 431 ff.; R. Mohr, Untersuchungen über Sexualethik ost- und zentralafrikan. Volksstämme, in Anthropos, 33 (1938), pp. 731, 785, 786; id., Ricerche sull'etica sessuale di alcune popolazioni, dell'Africa centr. e orient., in Arch. per l'antropol. e l'etnol., Florence 1939, p. 263 ff.; R. Corso, La vita spirituale, in R. Biasutti, Razze e popoli della terra, I. Turin 1941, pp. 473–96; R. Biasutti, Elementi della civiltà, ibid., pp. 351–410; R. Corso, Etnografia. Prolegomeni, 4th ed., Naples 1947, p. 116 ff.; P. Schebesta, Die Bambuti-Pygmaden vom Ituri. Ergebnisse zweier Forschungsreisen zu den zentralafrikan. Pygmaden, II. Brussels 1948, p. 345; W. Schmidt, Geist und Ethos des Menschen der Urkultur, in Wissenschaft und Weltbild, 2 (1949, 1-III); V. BIBLICA. of the entry PECCATO. Luigi Vannicelli

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