I've always been baffled by the amount women can wear and still not feel (or at least let on otherwise) naked. (Personally, being in public in anything that doesn't cover my knees is unnerving.) Now I come from a family of big towel-folk by which I mean all our towels are of the "beach towel" variety... well at least the ones I generally use to cover my nakedness, thus, with upper body exposed, they descend almost to my ankles. Now it may interest the reader now to know that I am currently in a towel, a big one at that, and I am about to use it to cover from my nipples down. Now this being, once again, a large towel, it goes down just past my knees.
I recently had the luxury of staying in a hotel which, like most, provides its own towels. They are short. I have one such towel.
I am wearing it now around my waist.
It goes down to my knees.
But if I use it to cover my chest and torso, it descends past my hip the length of some of the shorter mini-skirts I've seen. I am uncomfortable. Thankfully I never have to walk out of the shower like this, but most women do. Towels don't come in men's and women's sizes. Reader! I contend that the amount of leg one can display publicly with comfort is about equal the amount visible when a towel is draping from:
For men: His waist
For women: Her chest
To me it makes sense. Once you're old enough to be conscious of your nakedness, and learn to wear a towel properly, it will be the least you'll probably wear in public (unless your a nudist, whore, or at the pool) and therefore the basis for your comfort.
Not convinced? Try it yourself.