Do you ?
Back in the day things weren't like this. Plenty of Jewish newspapers and magazines had pictures of men and women and I think it was perfectly fine. I honestly think this is a situation where we are kidding ourselves into thinking it's better and more machmir to have a little girl be blotted out than realizing that this is a form of extremism that has little to do with yiddeshkeit at this point.
Much of tznius is subjective. Anyone who thinks it is a bunch of lines missed the boat.
Some of the more chassidish it is ideological. That has at this point spilled over into other communities as well. I think some is not having the backbone or the interest in standing up to those who go overboard but some is also to avoid what would become constant haggling over standards.
It's not so much about being machmir. But unfortunately we are in a situation of אכשר דרא - בתמיהה, were sensitivities that were once well ingrained, need to be explained, and are lost to lines and standards.As my dear friend @aygart accurately stated:
Back in the day things weren't like this.
Back in which day ? As far back as I can remember the papers which didn’t have it then still don’t have it and the ones which did still have it.
I honestly don't know names. I'm sure some never did. And I know some still do. But in general things were a lot more middle of the road and 'normal'. Even when I look through old papers and magazines in my grandparents basement all I notice is how normal it seemed to show both sexes of modern and more to the right people in various settings where you rarely see those pictures today.
I know exactly which time you’re referring to & I wouldn’t call that time “Middle of the road”. Was after the war & yiddishkeit here was at a very low point. I’ve also seen the old pictures. Women went sleeveless, uncovered hair, mixed dancing at simchas, and on & on. If you like that style better that’s your choice but that’s not “normal, middle of the road”.
back in the day the NCSY had social dancing, so don't bring points from what was acceptable in the US 60 years ago when the religious community was a lot more modern than it is today because if ״back in the day״ is fair play then show me one chareidi periodical from Poland before WW1 that had pictures of women in it
I guess the question is how do you decide when to stop going that way?
Most of the things I've seen were from the 60's and 70's. No one was sleeveless, they didn't have mixed dancing, their hair was covered. Just saying. And yes as a whole our communities have gotten "stricter" about a lot of things. I guess the question is how do you decide when to stop going that way?