I know that I may sound redundant here, as I have addressed this issue before in my writing. Having been freshly reminded of it, however, I have to write a few thoughts today.
A column in the Times newspaper (UK) recently talked about the sexualization of children, little girls in particular, that is going on in our culture. They pointed out the sale of faux high heels for baby girls as a case in point. Leopard skin heels on a 6-month-old female. Does it get any sicker than that? It’s all a big joke, right? Hilarious. Just hilarious. Americans and Westerners in general get their laughs out of perversion these days. There is something deeper going on with the whole idea of what femininity is. It’s been underway for some time, but has really worsened dramatically in the last 10 years or so.
It is ironic that after decades of hardcore feminism, females are viewed more as sex objects than ever before. It isn’t enough now to “bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan,” as the old jingle went. Now you have to look like a porn star while you do it. It isn’t just grown women. It begins in babyhood and toddlerhood, where mothers, at stores like Sears, are buying infant and preschooler clothes emblazoned with the Cheetah Girls and other rock and roll sensations. There simply is no window of innocence allowed any longer. Girls at age 7 are expected to imitate the “hot” female stars, and if they don’t, they’re deemed babyish and out of style–social suicide for second graders.
Middle-aged women are expected to dress and look like 20-somethings. The elderly are not supposed to look elderly. Cosmetic surgery, Botox, and obsession with weight loss and fitness are now considered normal even for those in their 60’s and 70’s. You are what you look like, goes the thinking. You must be sexy no matter what age, stage of life, or health condition you are in. It makes me sick to my stomach.
Pregnant women are now expected to dress “sexy” as well. It is virtually impossible to locate anything resembling decent, modest jumpers and tops for mothers-to-be. These were widely available ten years ago. Forget dignity, forget the beauty of motherhood, we all must be hot, hot, hot. Yummy mummies, they call them. In this age of constant braying about diversity, there really is none for women. There is one look, and one look alone that society accepts. Those who want to look like a mother and not a prostitute while pregnant are out of luck if they don’t know how to sew.
I recently watched a program on EWTN, the Catholic TV channel. While I disagree on some things, their teachings on family and God’s plan for motherhood is beautiful and helpful, and is utterly absent in freak show evangelical television. The teacher talked about femininity according to God’s standards, not those of the culture around us. The beauty of motherhood as exhibited by the mother of Jesus was described. Submission to God’s will, a heart of servanthood, nurturing and graceful acceptance of our roles in our families and in church were all emphasized. The teacher explained how beautiful and full-orbed femininity is in God’s plan, and how the world perverts and distorts it. I would add that evangelicalism often does the same, because the world’s value system has pretty much taken over.
A woman is more than a sexual object. The world refuses to accept this , and that’s why the sexualization of children, the degrading of women through popular media and porn, and the breakdown in families worsens each year in this country. The fruits of this are seen everywhere today, especially in our little girls who are taught, early on, that they must flaunt their bodies and whatever sexual charms they have in order to be of any worth. It is a tragic perversion of God’s plan for girls and women.
If we are Christians, we need to run our lives counter to these values of the world. We need to dress and behave modestly in a way that adorns our Savior. It is an honor and a privilege to be female and to live out our femininity according to God’s plan. We should never ever settle for the world’s rhinestones of flesh and sensuality when we can have the spiritual jewels of godly femininity.
