This post has been in the back of my mind for over a year. You'd think I'd have found time to write about it before now, but better late than never I guess. I'll go back to the beginning of the thoughts I've had on this subject.
My daughter was given a CD of music for LDS Young Women in 2010. The music was written by Jenny Phillips. I found that I loved the music almost more than my girls. (I'm not a poet and don't love poetry, but I do love poetry set to music. It truly speaks to my soul.) I found myself listening to this CD often as I worked around the house or drove in my car.
One song really stood out to me and I just love the beautiful message it shares. Here are the lyrics.
Virtue
Because I love the Father
I want the minds of men to be lifted when
They look at me.
Because I am His daughter
I want my devotion to Him
To be what they see
I don't need the attention of immodesty
I am confident in my divinity.
Chorus: I didn't come to earth to compromise
I came here to hold up my light
No matter what the world may do
I'm a daughter of God, and
I'm holding on to virtue
I want to lead a life that
Is full of so much good
It attracts the light to me
So I'm trusting in my Father
To magnify the beauty
he has placed in me
I am confident in my divinity.
I live in a place with lots of beautiful, amazing women who are wonderful people but I wonder sometimes if they realize how they've been misled by the society we live in.There is so much emphasis placed on the beauty of the physical body and showing it off. I have never lived in a place with so many people who run. I have also never lived in a place with so many 'moms' who are considered 'hot' by the high school boys in town. What message is being sent to the youth and everyone else? That you can be a wife and mother and still have the body of a 20 year old? That you should have lipo and implants to get that 'hot' body? That it's okay to wear skin tight clothing to show off that body and draw attention to your hard 'work'?
I believe that it encourages our young people to focus on things that are of little worth eternally and is damaging to all, women, men and youth. I imagine that the young girls are envious of them and threatened by them at the same time. They want to look like them because they see the attention it garners. But are they also seeing them as 'competition' for the boys' attention? And it's just not right to flaunt it in front of young (or old)men who have a hard enough time controlling their thoughts.
I think our Stake Presidency(LDS Church leadership in a geographical area) and the Stake Relief Society(LDS womens' organization) Presidency must have had some similar thoughts and misgivings about what is going on. They held a special meeting for all RS sisters in our stake and essentially gave us a 'Standards Night', focusing on the topic of modesty. I was thrilled to see the topic addressed but disheartened at the turnout. It was basically preaching to the choir, those who needed to hear it weren't there. Regardless of that fact I was so thankful for a reminder that we as adults are just as accountable as our youth for upholding the standards the Lord has set forth.
I hope as I continue to raise my sons and daughters that I will be able to teach them to be modest and to not seek for attention with their bodies. Instead, to be a light of Christ to those around them and draw attention to themselves in a Christlike way.
I didn't come here to compromise but to hold up my light. I'm learning to be confident in my divinity and I'm thankful for reminders in music and word that this is something to strive for.
*disclaimer-I am not saying it's wrong to run or exercise or try to dress beautifully. Exercise is important for physical health. Dressing nicely is important as well, but it can be done modestly.
Showing posts with label societal norms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label societal norms. Show all posts
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
1,2,3,Cheeeeeeese!
I've been pondering another societal norm that I've noticed in the last few years. It has to do with cameras.
What? Cameras?
Let me begin back when I was in 6th grade. A very, l-o-n-g time ago. Not mentioning any years.
We took a little field trip to a national park near our town. I was so thrilled to have a camera to take. I think it was a little 110. Can't remember for sure. I used a WHOLE roll of film! Then I had to pay to get it developed and wait for it to come back. I loved those pictures, even typing on the back of them what they were. Which was good, because years later, if I hadn't had the info on the back I would have had no idea what the picture was of. Was I in any of the pictures? Yes, one. Out of 24, probably. The rest were of the landscapes, wildlife and scenery, and a couple of my friends.
Fast forward to today in our digital imaging age. My young teenaged daughter got a camera for Christmas a couple of years ago, and I've had one for a few years. While I love the ease of picture taking and deleting the not so good images, I hate storing thousands of digital images on my computer that are never going to be printed. But that's not my issue. Here's what I've noticed that has me scratching my head. While I tend to take pictures of my kids and things we do, I've noticed that the teen and early-mid 20's crowd tend to take pictures of . . . . .themselves.
Why is that? It honestly never enters my mind to take tons of pictures of myself in various poses and various states of dress. In fact, if it ever enters my mind to take a picture of myself I quickly throw that thought out, thinking how puffy I look in pictures. But I don't think that taking pictures of myself would be something I would do even if I wasn't 'puffy', if I was not overweight and out of shape.
What drives people to photograph themselves all the time? I believe that it is a product of our 'it's all about me' society. This generation of people has been raised with the notion that they are special, wonderful, important and that it's all about them, individually. Therefore, it follows that there is nothing better to take a picture of than their wonderful self. I also believe that it's a longing to be like the 'rich, famous and beautiful' people who are paraded across the magazines and screens, telling us how we should look, what we should wear, drive, eat and spend our time doing.
Going through my daughter's pictures one day I found a ton of pictures she and her good friend had taken together before we moved. At first, I thought it was nice and that they were cute, but the more I looked at them and thought about them, the more unhappy I became. Not that there was anything risque about them. It was just the dumb poses that they struck, the stuck out lips as if they were trying to make their mouths look more 'luscious' for lack of a better term. Too much sexualization if you really looked at it. I know these girls had no conscious intention to try to sexualize themselves, but because of the society they have been born into and have been drowning in ever since, they did it unconsciously. I have realized that I have a huge responsibility to try to steer them away from such behaviour and if they must have a camera, to teach them some photography skills to encourage them to take pictures of other things.
The end of the story: my daughter's camera was left laying around, of course, and the screen was broken. I'm not all that sad about it, either. I won't provide another so quickly and will do it with much contemplation and if I feel good about it.
What? Cameras?
Let me begin back when I was in 6th grade. A very, l-o-n-g time ago. Not mentioning any years.
We took a little field trip to a national park near our town. I was so thrilled to have a camera to take. I think it was a little 110. Can't remember for sure. I used a WHOLE roll of film! Then I had to pay to get it developed and wait for it to come back. I loved those pictures, even typing on the back of them what they were. Which was good, because years later, if I hadn't had the info on the back I would have had no idea what the picture was of. Was I in any of the pictures? Yes, one. Out of 24, probably. The rest were of the landscapes, wildlife and scenery, and a couple of my friends.
Fast forward to today in our digital imaging age. My young teenaged daughter got a camera for Christmas a couple of years ago, and I've had one for a few years. While I love the ease of picture taking and deleting the not so good images, I hate storing thousands of digital images on my computer that are never going to be printed. But that's not my issue. Here's what I've noticed that has me scratching my head. While I tend to take pictures of my kids and things we do, I've noticed that the teen and early-mid 20's crowd tend to take pictures of . . . . .themselves.
Why is that? It honestly never enters my mind to take tons of pictures of myself in various poses and various states of dress. In fact, if it ever enters my mind to take a picture of myself I quickly throw that thought out, thinking how puffy I look in pictures. But I don't think that taking pictures of myself would be something I would do even if I wasn't 'puffy', if I was not overweight and out of shape.
What drives people to photograph themselves all the time? I believe that it is a product of our 'it's all about me' society. This generation of people has been raised with the notion that they are special, wonderful, important and that it's all about them, individually. Therefore, it follows that there is nothing better to take a picture of than their wonderful self. I also believe that it's a longing to be like the 'rich, famous and beautiful' people who are paraded across the magazines and screens, telling us how we should look, what we should wear, drive, eat and spend our time doing.
Going through my daughter's pictures one day I found a ton of pictures she and her good friend had taken together before we moved. At first, I thought it was nice and that they were cute, but the more I looked at them and thought about them, the more unhappy I became. Not that there was anything risque about them. It was just the dumb poses that they struck, the stuck out lips as if they were trying to make their mouths look more 'luscious' for lack of a better term. Too much sexualization if you really looked at it. I know these girls had no conscious intention to try to sexualize themselves, but because of the society they have been born into and have been drowning in ever since, they did it unconsciously. I have realized that I have a huge responsibility to try to steer them away from such behaviour and if they must have a camera, to teach them some photography skills to encourage them to take pictures of other things.
The end of the story: my daughter's camera was left laying around, of course, and the screen was broken. I'm not all that sad about it, either. I won't provide another so quickly and will do it with much contemplation and if I feel good about it.
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