Where did modesty go?

The article in Jan. 20’s Living section was so offensive, insulting and degrading to women that reading it caused me to seriously cringe. I cannot use it. The p-word, I shall just abbreviate in, *hat.

Having been raised in Catholic schools through high school, I’m still grossly offended by references using terms to female genitalia. Frankly, I do not recall such language used even in medical school, even in the labs in which we were dissecting human bodies.

Respect for our sensibilities. Respect for the teachings of our parents. Respect for our religions. And, respect, after all, for women. All were practiced every minute of our lives, hoping to evoke the compliments of “gentleman” and “lady” – terms which themselves had their genders ripped out in recent times.

And what has happened to our beloved modesty? The very term is laughable for many millennials, for whom “hooking up,” “shacking up” and date nights ending in “bedventures” are everyday expressions. But our own local newspaper, printing the full-termed utterance *hats, burns the ears and insults the sensibilities of many who found it on our doorsteps that January morning.

Maybe the Detroit Free Press writer set out to actually shame us. But it really shames her, and yes, even her femininity.

This story was originally published January 29, 2018 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Where did modesty go?."