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78 A Ticklish Situation Then there is the question: how to disrobe for swimming? If a girl simply strips naked, she’s immodest. If she takes off some clothes but leaves others on, she’s still undressing, her motions sure to spawn lewd thoughts, the way a mother strolling with her child suggests nights of abandoned passion. Is it better to arrive pre-dressed in a swimsuit, or to swim dressed in street clothes? Doesn’t the one show too much skin, and the other show the strong desire not to show skin, which conjures visions of the most intimate skin? And doesn’t the failure to swim on a warm, sunny day suggest a wish to hide? And doesn’t that imply feelings of guilt and shame, which bring to mind those body parts with which guilt and shame are linked? There can be but one solution: to undress without undressing, swim without swimming, in the manner of one who, hearing sparrows chirp in the cherry tree outside her window, watches and enjoys them, while not hearing, watching, or enjoying them at all. ...

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