A RICHER KIND OF BEAUTY

The “Hot Topic” in this morning’s Herald Sun was about lingerie football. Apparently, the original Lingerie Football League was an American grid-iron competition that has now been rebranded, with ‘Legends’ replacing ‘Lingerie’ in the name. This competition is now starting in Australia, causing quite a stir of controversy.

Perhaps surprisingly, several of the comments in the newspaper’s opinion page were supportive of the whole idea. If the girls want to do it, why shouldn’t they? some argue.

But the sexualisation of girls and women is a serious issue in Australia. Melinda Tankard Reist, with her Collective Shout movement, has been a leading voice for change in this area. She makes a lot of sense.

I’m not a big fan of modern popular music but, from time to time, I like to check out what’s hot in the world of music videos. It seems to me that more and more hit videos these days feature scantily clad (or worse) women dancing provocatively or writhing sexually on the floor. ‘Audacious’ is a word that comes to mind. The message is clear: if it’s not sexy, it’s not good.

One would almost think that the reason God made girls was for the voyeuristic pleasure of males. Some celebrity women certainly know how to cash in, but does that make it right?

So what is the problem? Am I just an old-fashioned prude who thinks women should be covered from head to toe? Not at all. The problem is that our media associates beauty with sex. You want to be popular? You have to be beautiful. You want to be beautiful? You have to look sexy.

There are other, much richer, much more wonderful kinds of beauty. The Bible says: “Do not let your adornment be merely outward – arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel – rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God (1 Peter 3:3,4).”

Boys need to grow up with an appreciation for the true beauty that is in women. But I fear that our sexualised society is causing more and more young women to flaunt themselves, and more and more young men to see girls first and foremost as sexual objects.

Modesty in behaviour and dress is all about giving people the opportunity to see the better, richer kind of beauty.

(And I hope you understand why I haven’t included any relevant pictures in today’s offering!)