July 11, 2006 8:49 AM
Real Beauty
Deb sent me this link to a 51 second spot on Real Beauty from Jewish Impact Films. How lovely to see modesty promoted! Show your girls - and boys.
I've been so dismayed this year by the cleavage situation. I breathed a sigh of relief when short skirts were replaced by longer, fuller skirts this year. But my goodness! I can't believe how American women and girls have been brainwashed into exposing themselves above the waist.
Even at out very conservative church, every once in a while an otherwise beautiful girl will walk in with the multiple straps thing going and displaying a distracting amount of cleavage.
And outside of church, even in a conservative culture like I supposedly live in, it's no holds barred. Very distressing to see mothers dressing immodestly too. Our schools do not allow spaghetti straps or midriff exposure (though they are lax in enforcing the rules), but ironically you see moms at school concerts and open houses in the very sort of clothing their daughters aren't allowed to wear to school.
I'm not just offended by this as a Christian, but as an early-on feminist from the 70's. We were all about women not being sex objects. And yet now every mother is supposed to buy underwear at Victoria's Secret. They advertise during prime soap opera time - along with all the weight-loss and anti-depressant pills. Hey, maybe if they'd stop trying to convince moms they had to live up to unrealistic expectations they wouldn't need the anti-depressants :)
It's so sad to see little 12 year old girls trying so hard to look like they're 19 - and succeeding. Maddy says she doesn't want to grow up - and I can understand the pressure she's trying to avoid.
The upside about being in a Christian bubble like where I am now or Liberty University, where Zach and Ben go to school, is just turning off that aspect of our culture that thumbs its nose at important things like modesty. The downside of course is that you're in a Christian bubble.
A great book to read is A Return to Modesty by Wendy Shalit, a young Jewish woman who was in her early 20's when she wrote it in 2000.
Wendy has another book coming out in March 2007 which I will be eager to read and pass on: Girls Gone Mild: Young Women Reclaim Self-Respect and Find It's Not Bad to Be Good. We need more voices like this, and it helps when they are from the younger women themselves.
Posted in Books, Culture, Feminism, Teens and Tweens | Permalink
Comments
http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2006/05/sister-show-mercy.html Barbara, that is wonderful! Here is a link to a very powerful message I hope all women will read. I hope you have time to read it while you're away from home. :)
Posted by: Angela | July 11, 2006 11:06 AM
I so agree! As a mom of two little girls, 7 and 4, I get so frustrated with what's available out there in the stores for them. Although I'm conservative and homeschool, my seven year old still sees the fashions and wants to look "cool". I don't mind a little bit of "cool" but still can't see why little girls can't be little girls, not teens. (And why teens can't dress decently, too!)
Great post!
Blessings,
~Tammy
Posted by: Tammy | July 11, 2006 12:10 PM
And you know, it's not only about modesty - as you know there's a whole other issue at stake about how much skin is exposed to the summer sun. And I don't know if you've been shopping for toddlers lately, but even little girls' shorts are shorter than in the boys' section (at least over here)and the sleeves on their shirts are shorter too. Already for two year olds! I'm waiting for the female tennis players or beach volleyballers to walk out dressed like the men and start a genuine campaign: why should Maria Sharipova increase her risk of skin cancer when Roger Federer can wear the long shorts and sleeves practically to his elbows? I know moms of little girls who buy a lot of boy clothes for their because they cover more skin.
Posted by: swissmiss | July 11, 2006 1:08 PM
Oh man, I am dealing with this very issue today as I went back-to-school shopping today. It's my next topic on my blog, I swear. The fashions for young girls disgust me. Well 90% of them do. It's VERY hard to dress a girl like a young child. VERY hard indeed.
Suzanne
Posted by: Suzanne | July 11, 2006 2:14 PM
Amen, Barbara! This is one of my biggest bugaboos...I have sons who are trying to keep their minds pure, and many of their sisters in Christ don't make it any easier for them...and I have a young daughter to whom I am trying to teach modesty...and it's very difficult to have to say "No, you can't wear that, even if ____(substitute name of otherwise lovely young Christian girl) does."
Posted by: Kathy in VA | July 11, 2006 5:12 PM
This has nothing to do with your post...but you made it as a "Best Meet for a Mocha" finalist! I'd *love* to meet you for a mocha!
(ps- at A Gracious Home dot COM)
Posted by: Bonnie | July 11, 2006 7:01 PM
I have 2 thirteen year old daughters and it is a full time battle!
Posted by: whimsy | July 11, 2006 9:14 PM
