All the single...little girls?

I've been meaning to blog on this issue for a while. I've been meaning to say what I really think. I've put it off for various reasons. The biggest reason being that I wasn't really sure what I was trying to communicate. Then, two days ago, all my thoughts became clear when I saw this video.

Vezi mai multe video din Sport

Oh. My. Word. The first time I watched this I sat in stunned silence. Every time I have watched it since, I have cried. This two minute video has a doctoral thesis worth of intellectual fodder. I'll try to keep it a bit shorter than that.

It's easy to watch this video and be shocked. It's easy to ask the obvious questions about these girls. (The most obvious being, "Where are their parents!?") I think there is, however, a bigger societal issue that needs to be examined. This video of these eight year old girls is just an example of much larger problem; that is, the sexualization of girls and the infantilization of women.

The signs of this problem are everywhere. Little girls dressed like strippers. "Boyfriend jeans" that you can buy for your toddler. High heeled shoes for infants. The converse problem of infantilization is also evident. We see women models posed in magazines holding teddy bears. There are sexy little bo-peep costumes on sale at Halloween. There is the rise of the vapid, female celebrities, like Paris Hilton. We are dressing girls in the trappings of womanhood, and demanding woman maintain the personality of child. What's the deal here?

What the deal is, I think, is an effort to keep women from accessing and embracing full personhood. I'm not talking about woman being better than men, or some ridiculous idea of a superior sex; we are all fallen. What I am talking about personhood. The right to reach one's full potential as person: emotionally, physically, intellectually, and spiritual.

Society is telling girls from the moment they are born that what really matters is their sexuality. It is important to dress sexy. To act sexy. To be sexy. This idea than carries into womanhood. What is defined as sexy is inherently childlike. Super models with pre-pubescent bodies. Hairless leg and armpits. Passive. Uninformed about sexuality. Dependent.

And it is this push to make "childlike dependency" synonymous with "sexiness" that frightens me the most. There is nothing healthy about life long dependency. There is nothing sexy about stunting one's potential in the name of sexuality.

What this shocking video boils down to for me is this. If someday, I have daughters, I want them to know that being a well-rounded person who loves God and people is what matters. I don't want them to make the mistakes I did. Don't obsess about your weight. Don't pretend to be ignorant on subject just so a boy can teach you something that you already knew. Don't be weak to get attention.

When they are young, I will tell them play outside, to get messy, to wear their hair in braids, and to be friends with boys and girls. And when they are woman, I will tell them to be strong, to study their passion, to be more concerned with the people around them than their waist size, and to be friends with both men and women. I will tell them that independence, intelligence, grace, and confidence is what being a person; a woman is all about.

Redemption

I am coming to believe that there is no greater metaphor for redemption than the arrival of spring. I can feel spring slowly coming to southern Manitoba. The air is losing its sharp edge. I can hear birds chirping when I start my car in the morning. Soon the snow and ice will melt away, and the little sprigs of grass will, with great effort, push through the hard soil. I can feel life returning.

After roughly five months of winter, I am longing for the warmth and the sense of renewal that I know is coming. Creation is about to be re-birthed and today I find myself crawling out of my skin in anticipation. "For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now" (Romans 8:22). I love that. The earth is groaning, travailing, and longing for spring; for redemption.

I find that there no better way for me to picture humanity's longing for redemption by God than the way in which these prisoners of winter await spring. Don't I want a second chance? Don't I want rebirth from the darkness of myself? Don't I desire to break through my hard, earthy soil and lift myself toward the divine, the sacred? Don't we all want that?

Whatever your view of eschatology might be, I believe that, in some way, God will redeem his people and his earth. How can a creator not want to restore his creation? How can the plants, rocks, trees, and grass not want the warmth of spring to fall on them again?

I have heard it said that the creation reflects the creator. If that's true, then our Spring is coming. Our seemingly eternal winter will end. This story ends in redemption. With soil cracking wide open, green shoots bursting forth, sunlight beating down, rainfall soaking the earth, and the sacred swallowing up the profane.

Books that Changed my Life...or at least the way I think.

I'll admit it. I love reading. I love curling up on the futon with a novel. I love the smell of a brand new book. I can recall being told numerous times as a child, "Don't read at the table!" It's even one of the things that excited me most about living on campus for the summer - A library crammed with books, and I could read for fun! So in tribute to one of my favorite pastimes, I give you,

"Books that Changed my Life...or at least the way I think."

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I first read this book in grade 11. I instantly feel in love with the writing style, the characters, and the little town of Maycombe, Alabama. I think what resonated with me the most was the realism of it. Those who are victims of injustice don't always receive their recompense. Innocence lost can never be regained.

A couple years ago, I was in the stage production of To Kill a Mockingbird. And all the feelings that I felt when I read the novel became all more real and acute on stage. I saw Tom Robinson on the stand. I contributed to the unraveling of Scout's world. I walked the streets of Maycombe. I watched Boo Radley make right some of what had been wrong.

It remains, to this day, my favorite novel.

Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture by William Romanowski

Ohmygoodness. I love this book. It was a required reading for my Media and Society class in college. As with most required texts, I cracked the cover with some trepidation. I was fearing seven hours of dry textbook reading. But no! So much better. It is the best book I have ever read on Christianity and Media. He finds a great balance between "All media is 'worldly' and 'wrong'", and "Christians should even bother engaging with media." And he analyzes current media to prove his points.

If you have any interest in the relationship between faith and broader culture, read Eyes Wide Open.