50 SEX-LORE 



to us in ancient rites and religious laws of sex purifi- 

 cation, etc. 



Thus it comes about that greater obedience is paid 

 to mere rules of convention than to actual feelings. 

 Artificial regulations of sexual conduct take the place 

 of natural modesty. As we have seen, modesty is a 

 function of sex, and has as such nothing to do with 

 nakedness of the body. It has been observed over and 

 over again by many trustworthy travellers that primi- 

 tive people who use little or no clothing are often in- 

 tensely modest in their behaviour and speech. The 

 scanty clothing they may possess serves more the 

 purpose of " showing off " than hiding the body. In 

 fact, it is now generally assumed that clothing was 

 originally intended rather for ornament than for 

 covering. Even with us the idea still prevails to a 

 large extent, especially among womenfolk. Women 

 who would blush to expose their shoulders and 

 chest in ordinary life have no hesitation in doing 

 so when in evening-dress, and with an assurance of 

 doing the correct thing. With the gradual develop- 

 ment of clothing, modesty tended to centre round 

 different parts of the body, according to the national 

 and religious customs of the people. While with us 

 practically the whole body, except the usually un- 

 covered parts, is under the ban of modesty, but 

 especially so the parts connected with the sex func- 

 tions, other races have quite different standards. 

 Among Moslems women have to veil their faces, par- 

 ticularly when in the street, and they must not be 

 seen with uncovered face by any man. The veiling 

 may be very slight (Fig. 21), or it may take the form 

 of a complete covering of head and face, so that 



