Naked Feminism – Chapter Summaries

Naked Feminism: Breaking the Cult of Female Modesty (2023) is the new book by Victoria Bateman. In this showcase, Victoria summarises the four main chapters of her book, which examine the history, consequences and causes of society’s obsession with women’s bodily modesty – from covering up their bodies to their virginity – and considers the degree to which feminism is itself complicit in the demonisation of “immodest” women. She uncovers the puritanical strand with feminism, and ends with a call for the women’s movement to rid itself of “whorephobia”; it is enough that immodest women have to battle the forces of patriarchy, without also having to battle feminists.