‘Surfing naked feels so f***ing good: How the Unidirectional Cult of Female Modesty Constrains Experiencing the Sublime in Contemporary Hawaiʻi

Surfing naked was the norm in pre-contact Hawaiʻi; rudimentary surfwear was only conspicuously displayed as a form of flirtation. Whereas in contemporary Hawaiʻi, notions consistent with the ability versus body debates central to the cult of female modesty tacitly dominate women’s surfwear choices. This article explores the influence of double situation contradictions in puritanical feminism, which supports the freedom of choice but then disapproves of women who choose bodily immodesty. The Indigenous paradigm and methodology adopted in this article enabled female surfers on Oʻahu to discuss the tacit tensions and conformities between modest and immodest women, to reveal a solution and a theory of Indigenous Relational Functionality. Findings also reveal unidirectional power dynamics in the cult of female modesty, where immodest women do not compel their modest peers to experience the sublime of surfing when wearing as little as possible.