Situation: Today I heard a talk about a concept I haven't heard mentioned for many, many years: MODESTY. The speaker is a former model. She told her life story, that she grew up with 'hippie' parents who subscribed to the culture of the day, "If it feels good, do it!" The family never went to church. She told the audience of women and teenage girls of all ages about what goes on behind the scenes during a fashion show. Backstage is co-ed; between trips down the runway, there are naked and semi-dressed women and men changing clothes and getting their hair fixed, all together, no one notices. She said that she never had a problem with this but that many newcomers to the fashion world do. The very attractive lady related that she did, however, feel 'uncomfortable' doing photo shoots for underwear.
The lovely lady had also been involved with beauty pageants. She said it was all the same there. People do anything, have implant surgery, dye hair, anything to be the beauty that is expected.
Apparently she also did a photo shoot with a model who was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, bathing suit issue. The model she met was perfectly beautiful, with a perfect body; she was going out with her new husband after the photo shoot. Our speaker asked her the next day about her 'date night,' "Oh, where'd you go?" The perfect woman sadly replied, "Oh, we went to a strip club." She thought it was so sad that the husband of the 'perfect' woman would have to go see other women's bodies, "Everybody thinks they'll be happy if they have the perfect body, but look at this woman! Look at most of the famous people in America (she put up photos of Elvis, Michael Jackson, and Marilyn Monroe), look at how they lived. Whitney Huston probably could also be in this category. They didn't look very happy."
Our speaker said that in our society we are given an image of all the things we have to do to conform to someone's idea of beauty. She also mentioned about the Awards' Shows on TV: "The women are applauded for the barest of outfits. Their necklines merge with their waistlines."
Our speaker/model met the man who was to be her husband, also a model. Life was no different until she became pregnant. She started thinking about her child seeing photos or commercials of her in underwear. Then she decided she would no longer model. She started being aware of how she was or was not covered up.
Then she wanted to go to church. Her husband was a Catholic, but he never went to church. They both started to attend church and eventually she joined the church.
Next she displayed a mini-skirt from Abercrombie & Fitch. She said the atmosphere of the store is dark and seductive (have you ever seen the large photos of bare-chested teen-age guys - you can see them from outside the store), with perfume sprayed everywhere and music so loud you can hardly talk. She said a denim mini-skirt for sale there was about the length of a wide belt! She took it to the sales clerk and asked "What age girls will buy this?" The clerk replied, "All the 13-year-olds love them! Looks like it isn't for YOU!"
Lessons learned: Next our very pregnant model informed the clerk, "then I will have to go all over the nation and mention the store that does not care about teen-age girls." And now she is doing that! She told the assembled teens, "Stores don't care about you. They don't care if you get pregnant. They don't care if you get an S.T.D. All they want is your money."
The model/now mother of three told the audience that new research confirms that male and female brains are actually different. Many mothers promote or permit their young girls to dress, have make-up, and act very seductively. If two girls saw the denim mini-skirt, they would think, "How cute!" If a male saw a female in the skirt, he would have sexual thoughts. "Males have sexual thoughts approximately every 52 seconds."
She also told of a recent pope attending a dinner. Next to him sat a woman dressed with an extremely low neckline. The pope said nothing, even though the dress was inappropriate for the occasion. After dinner, fruit was passed around. The pope took an apple and presented it to the woman. "What is this for?" asked the woman. The pope responded, "Eve didn't know she was naked until she ate the apple."
This lesson might give us all pause to think. How are we dressing? How are we allowing our daughters to dress? Do we allow pornography in the house? What TV shows are permitted in our homes? What messages are we giving to our young people?
Outcome: up to you and me. We can think of creative ways and direct ways to give our young people and also the commercial sponsors the message of exactly what we will tolerate - or not. Our model says, "We vote with what we buy."
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