"The Evolution of the Swim Suit" Response

In Jessica Rey's speech, "The Evolution of the Swim Suit," she describes how the evolution of the swim suit has caused women to move away from modesty and become scandalous. I do feel the popularity of the bikini in today's society has caused women to dress in a more scandalous way but I disagree in how Rey says this makes women in general more scandalous. The word scandalous is a strong word and I feel a more appropriate word for the evolution of the bathing suit would be more revealing. Although women have a choice on whether to dress in a modest or scandalous way. In Rey's speech she feels the evolution of the bikini is a bad thing and she is right to some extent. The evolution of the bathing suit was seen as a bad thing at the time but I feel people should have expected the bathing suit to be remade eventually. The way the swim suit has evolved over time is causing women who desire modesty to dress in a scandalous way.

In Rey's speech she says how the invention of the bikini was seen as a culture shock and socially unacceptable. I feel this would be true because people during this time were shown something new and unheard of so it will be rejected at first. Rey is right in showing how more women today wear the bikini instead of a more modest bathing suit. The way she explains how women strive for power by wearing the bikini seems exaggerated. Not all women are striving for this power she is describing but only seeking fashion. Many women want to look good but dress with a sense of modesty and during today's society it is hard to do so. I feel it is the way people look at women in bikini's is the problem. Yes it is a women's responsibility to discern whether what she is wearing is appropriate but it is also an outside observers responsibility to not judge women wearing bikini's. In today's society, as Rey mentions, it is harder for women to find modest looking bathing suits because of the popularity of the bikini. So, Rey's new bathing suit line has allowed for modest looking bathing suits to become available for those seeking a modest look.

"The Evolution of the Swim suit" Summary

 In "The Evolution of the Swim suit," Jessica Rey, argues the evolution of the swimsuit is a bad thing and has caused women to turn from modesty and become scandalous. Rey describes the history and evolution of the swim suit to show how the designs have changed and become less modest. She describes how the earliest swim suits were one pieces or ones showing little mid-drift and no belly button. She then mentions how the invention of the bikini in 1960, by Louis Rayard, was seen as scandalous and a shock to the public. Rey says the bikini was debuted by a hooker because no model would be seen wearing something so immodest. She mentions this because during this time in history, wearing this type of clothing was seen as socially unacceptable. She then explains how the sexual revolution and the women's movement started to take place in the mid-1960s and how bikinis were becoming popular to women during this time. Rey mentions these moments in history to show how wearing the bikini gave women a sense of power not fashion. She says in today's society women view modesty as an "old" view. Rey explains how modesty is misunderstood as not being fashionable, so she came out with her own swim suit line inspired by Audrey Hepburn to show women how they can be modest and fashionable without it being itsy bitsy. She ends her speech with saying women's modesty is being taken away by today's society when it should be embraced.