There are two responsibilities in tznius. One is that women need to dress appropriately. There are different standards, and the creation of something that will be halachically uniform is nothing but a dream. There remain opinions about just what is considered ervah, and these disputes in halacha predate our generation by many, many years. There are certain minimums, and one should hope these are followed universally. However, only women bear the responsibility to insure that they behave in this manner. The power to legislate this from the bench is nonexistent, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. As I stated earlier, we would accomplish more by expanding our connection to HKB”H at the individual and communal levels.
The second aspect of tznius is the men’s responsibility. Since we do not own the world, there will always be presence of some women who are not dressed according to our standards of tznius. How many people have cleaning ladies who arrive at our doors, having walked the streets of our neighborhoods who are underdressed? It is reality that there will be exposure to female skin. Men are obligated to avoid looking. Bear in mind that there is no issur of re’iyah – seeing, just histaklus -looking. A man is not liable for the momentary casual sight, just for the extra second of fixation or glancing. Regardless of whether a woman is responsible for her manner of dress, men are still liable for their looking. And the exposure will always exist. No woman is liable for a man’s extra second of gazing, as no man is liable for the missing inches of hemline.
I find it worth repeating, though it’s starting to get tedious. With all we need to do to improve our compliance with the issurim we must follow, we have at least as much need to increase our hashro’as haShechinah in everything we do. Can we address our efforts to comply better with Shivisi Hashem Linegdi Tomid?