" A woman’s sexual modesty puts her, significantly, in a position to be the ultimate worldly arbiter of a man’s worth—“Lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine,” as the temperance movement’s slogan had it. Since respect for her modesty gave her the freedom to withhold affection, so to speak, until a virtuous man came around, men were in turn inspired to become worthy of her. Whether the cause was liquor or "

― Wendy Shalit , A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue