Alright my readers.
Time for some Truth.
It's summer, and summer is a time to do lots of fun things. Like going to the pool. Who doesn't like going to the pool? It's a great way to cool off.
It's also a dangerous place.
And I'm not talking about potential drowning.
I'm talking about bikinis.
Ok, hear me out. If you've never read the book Dressing with Dignity by Colleen Hammond, please do so as soon as possible. Ms. Hammond makes many great points in her book, and gives a lot of fashion history as well. But when reading this book, the thing that horrified me the most was this next snippet from the book.
"Advertising agencies quickly prepared marketing research to find out the reaction of men to a woman wearing pants. Do you know what they found? Using newly developed technology, they tracked the path that a man's eyes take when looking at a woman in pants. They found that when a man looked at a woman in pants from the back, he looked directly at her bottom. When he looked at a woman wearing pants from the front, advertisers foind that his eyes dropped directly to a woman's most private and intimate area. Not her face! Not her chest!"**
And if you think that a man's reaction to girls in pants is bad--and believe me, it is--imagine how a man reacts to see a woman wearing a bikini--which is wearing almost nothing!!! Their brains go HAYWIRE!! This isn't just boys being stupid. IT'S PSYCOLOGY, PEOPLE. Men's minds are programmed to seek out beauty in women. But it is all too easy for that desire for what is true, good, and beautiful to be perverted.
And it doesn't help that a lot of women are "dressing dirty".
Some may not do it intentionally! Some may not know any better! But just because they might not know better doesn't mean that this is a great temptation to sin for men and boys.
Truth hurts, people. Continue reading:
"[...] Advertisers know that the same holds true when a man views a woman wearing slacks or a skirt with slits. Men's eyes will follow the lines right up her legs and finish the picture in their imagination. Women's eyes may do the same thing, but since women don't have the same type of temptations, their imaginations don't complete the picture in the same way as men's do.
[...] Think about it! Even prostitutes in the 1950's and 1960's did not wear the skimpy, suggestive clothing that many women and young girls are now wearing to the shopping malls during warm weather."
Do you feel like you're going to throw up?
You should.
This is a dangerous world for our brothers, fathers, cousins, and friends.
Some people will come back at truth like this with the age-old argument "if he's thinking stupid things about me it's his problem! I can dress how I want! etc., etc."
Ohhhhhhh, honey. It is TOTALLY your problem.
True, men should guard their eyes and hearts against temptation, but it is so hard for them. Think about the last time someone jumped out at you and scared you. You had no idea they were there, did you? You didn't know they were going to scare you--did you? Just the same, it is all too easy for men and boys to get caught off guard with temptations.
And think: not all men want to guard their hearts and keep themselves pure. Some take pleasure in looking at women--why do you think porn is so common and successful? It's dangerous! You don't want to be a walking temptation for perverts to gawk at and fantasize about!
Some people do dress for attention. And that's sad. I weep for the streetwalkers. They do not know their real value. We were made for so much more than this. We're better than this. God has made each and every one of us with such care and attention. How it must sadden his Heart to see his daughters and sons misusing and flaunting their bodies which He made in His image!
If you want to dress for attention, though... honestly? Why dress the same as everyone else when you could dress modestly? That's not something you see every day. Modesty gets attention. And it gets attention because it's rare (sadly).
So the way you dress does affect men. Please, PLEASE do not undervalue yourself. Don't flaunt your body at the swimming pool. Don't show yourself in public. Appreciate and embrace your God-given beauty. Beauty is hidden, not flaunted. Where do you find diamonds? Deep, deep in the earth. Where do you find pearls? At the bottom of the ocean, nestled in a strong shell. Take a lesson from the jewels. Respect yourself. Because if you don't, no one will.
God didn't die for the diamonds and pearls. He died for you. And if He values you that much, you should value yourself too.
