In 1984-85, questions regarding swim wear were sent by the Hollywood Social Studies organization to a scientific sampling of U.S. psychiatrists to ascertain whether there are risks in sexual display of the fashionable swimsuits of today. The results were verified by a prominent retired psychiatrist. Here are some of their conclusions:

1. Of the psychiatrists who replied, 87 percent said a parent would be realistic to be aware that a swimsuit with the high cut legs might make a daughter a target of sexual advances or a sex crime. The same percentage said this risk is true for female wearers in Canada.

2. A parent would be naive, said 84 percent, to suppose a daughter could wear a string bikini and not appear to males to invite sexual attention. The same is true of females who wear short skirts or bikinis, said 81 percent in an earlier survey.

3. Husbands and fathers have some responsibility for sensible guidance to enable females to avoid attire that might be dangerously provocative to some males, said 91 percent.

4. Most psychiatrists said some mothers who clothe their little girls in unnecessarily revealing swimsuits may be expressing their own exhibitionism indirectly. If that fact is brought to their attention, however, 96 percent said one likely response would be self-righteous indignation, accusing anyone of vile motives who would think such a thing.

Donna Bali, Hollywood Social Studies

Pulpit Helps - December 1986 p. 322

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 2, p. 55
January 15, 1987