Yes there is something wrong with a Christian culture that puts the blame on women for men’s lust, or that in any way allow a man not to take responsibility for his own inordinate desires. Joel you've done a great job of putting responsibility back where it belongs in many ways. But in some ways you undermine your own words when you talk about “the woman who intentionally dresses to seduce the man that she wants but can’t have. In my opinion very few women who may in some way intentionally accentuate their sexuality in their dress do so to because they actually “want” a man sexually. To say that is the equivalent of saying they are “asking for it”. However, some women bravely admit that they are seeking male attention or competing with other women, both of which could be considered questionable motives which could be said to at least have some sexualized agenda. And how are we ever going to agree on the difference between simply dressing nicely, accentuating female beauty and “dressing to seduce”? You seems to try to debunk the idea of “stumbling” but use the idea of “seduce” in a remarkably similar way and by doing so you have re opened the door which youseemed to be trying to close i.e. that a woman’s style in dress should not be interpreted by any one as sexually inappropriate, including cleavage and leg. Your reference to “dressing to seduce” reveals that you feel there is some truth to that idea!
Regarding these seemingly strange scriptural references to things like braided or cut hair; I once read a commentary that suggested that these “styles” were the vogue of loose women and prostitutes in first century Greek culture. The commentator suggested that these were admonitions to Christian women to avoid looking like prostitutes. Now clearly they also refer to extravagance and humility as well. If we would try to have a modern application of that commentator’s viewpoint on the meaning of those passages, it will also be rife with controversy! What in our culture today would be clearly style of a loose woman or one who is trying to seduce? In a sexualized society these things are not so clear.
Another interesting topic you raise is the cultural differences in what constitutes sexualized dress, even referencing native tribes where women go topless. If I am understanding correctly you are basically is stating that this whole discussion is relative (or at least subjective); each man is turned on by something different and each culture has different standards of moral norms in dress. In other words he there is no objective standard. I have at times felt the same way especially when we look at how standards change over time, even conservative Christian ones! But have pondered if perhaps what scripture says about nakedness and being ashamed of being naked may offer a more objective thought about the nature of exposing our bodies or parts thereof to others. Something happened when Adam and Eve sinned that made them aware of their nudity and the need to cover themselves. They sewed together leaves in an attempt at “modesty” but God also provided clothing for them from animal skins to cover their bodies. This passage seems to indicate that shame of nudity came with awareness of sin, God didn’t disagree with their need to cover their nudity. At that point he didn’t just say it was natural or beautiful and they should just appreciate it. Children don’t feel this and I don’t think that it is all conditioning that makes us want to cover our nakedness. There is an awareness of nakedness that develops with our other cognative abilities. Yet I think we also long for a better state, one in which nakedness is not shameful. It’s almost like we know that this whole idea of shame isn’t our ideal state. If we didn’t live in a fallen world we would be naked and unashamed. In that state even partial nudity wouldn’t cause sexual interest. We inherently know that shame about our bodies is not God’s ideal for these wonderful creations He made and said were very good. But that’s not our present reality and we are dealing with confusion, mixed feelings, and frustration. But more importantly we are still dealing with the kind of blame that Adam did to Eve in the garden. And that’s probably one of the main points of the article isn’t it? Ultimately the only answer to all of this is going to be when our salvation is complete in eternity and sin and shame, blame and guilt, even marriage and sexuality (Matthew 22:30) in the ways that we experience them here in this flesh will no longer be issues. I really don’t think we’re going to “solve” it here.