My left-leaning “sisters” claim there is a “war on women.” They’re right about the war, but they’re confused about who is waging it and why.
John Stonestreet, writing for Breakpoint, quotes from The Screwtape Letters. (It is, I believe, my most favored work of C.S. Lewis.) “In an especially prophetic chapter,” notes Stonestreet, “Uncle Screwtape explains to his demon nephew Hell’s strategy for using imagery to derail human sexuality: ‘We have engineered a great increase in . . . the apparent nude (not the real nude) . . . It is all a fake, of course; the figures in the popular art are falsely drawn; the real women in bathing suits or tights are actually pinched in and propped up to make them appear firmer and more slender than nature allows a full-grown woman to be. As a result we are more and more directing the desires of men to something which does not exist.’ If there’s a more perfect summary of how our culture views women,” writes Stonestreet, “I haven’t found it.”
Our culture’s perspective on women opposes God’s. I sometimes trip over myself in the excitement of sharing the truth: We are creations of the holy God… real women in all sizes, shapes, and colors.
Often, I quote from the book What A Young Woman Ought to Know written by Mary Wood-Allen, M.D. I found it in my grandmother’s collection. Dr. Allen, a physician in the late 1800s and early 1900s, wrote, “The reason we admire the tapering waist is because we have been wrongly educated. We have acquired wrong ideas of beauty. We have accepted the ideals of the fashion-plate rather than those of the Creator.” Then, she detailed the corset, a hideous contraption worn by women — pre or post pregnancy — who coveted a 17 inch waist.
The corset shaped a woman’s body so that a man would be attracted. But, at what price? Dr. Allen wrote that Hiram Powers, a great sculptor, once attended an elegant party where he was observed watching a beautifully dressed and fashionable woman. A friend noticed, and said to Powers, “What an elegant figure she has!” “Well,” said Powers, “I was wondering where she put her liver.” As a sculptor, Powers had studied the human body. He knew that some internal organs, stomach included, had to be displaced in order to create that tapering waist.
A corseted waist made breathing so difficult it was not unusual for a woman to faint. Yet, it was viewed by the culture as a way to increase beauty. False beauty.
The corset. How barbarous! Now, think our culture. Bulimia. Anorexia. Piercings. Tats. Cosmetic surgeries. Girls pinched in, propped up, and covered only by fig leaves. All of this is addictive. All of this is false.
Focusing on sexuality, we mis-shape the image our youngest women have of themselves. We deceive them into becoming “fake” women.
Only later in life did I realize that my Barbie doll, if a real woman, wouldn’t be able to stand. Top heavy and with pencil-thin waist, she would fall face down. How embarrassing. More than that, what a sad and dangerous mistaken identity.
For many years, I’ve listened to women tell me about the sorrows and false hope of their abortion experience. There is an identity issue long before the choice of abortion. These women have helped me understand what happens when we see ourselves from the world’s perspective rather than God’s.
Wrongly educated and believing the lie, men and women are stripped of true identity.
More than sexual beings, we are human beings – male or female – with the attributes of our Creator. We are each His special possession designed for the purpose of living a life that reflects those attributes. We are more than bodies, but heads to think and souls that never die.
There is something wrong and potentially dangerous about being defined as a “sexual being.” Yes, we have sexual thoughts and desires. But, what if we never marry? Are we less of a person? No! And, if we do marry, but our bodies don’t function as we think they should, are we “junk?” No!
It is most certainly true that we procreate sexually, but again, what happens if we never marry or can’t have biological children of our own? Are we mis-fits? No! Jesus tells us that there is no marriage in heaven. Oh my! Then, do we become floating, bodiless souls? Angels? No! And no! We maintain our identity as God’s magnificent and beautiful creation. Our identity as His priceless possessions never changes. From the moment God thought of us right through eternity. Can this change the way we see ourselves? Yes. The choices we make? Yes. The life we live? Oh, yes.
Never once does God tell us to stop being a male or female, but He does tell us to guard against sensuality. To not let sexual thoughts and desires determine every behavior. God designed male and female to fit perfectly together in marriage, but He said: Have no other gods before Me. Might it be that obsession on sexuality is putting something else before God?
There is a “war on women.” (Therefore, on men, too.) Dear parents! Which of us wants to put a daughter at risk? To sexualize her… and tantalize boys and men? To distort both male and female ideas of what real women are actually like? To deceive all the way to the pharmacy… the abortion clinic… or where after that?
Resources for you to consider:
Dressing for Life: Secrets of the Great Cover-up
(a ten-lesson Bible study for girls) (Available here)
Titus 2 for Life, a mentoring ministry
Ezerwoman's Blog 