Contextual Pornography

Context is a funny thing.

That's all I've got for a lead in...so I guess that I'll get right to it.

I find it very interesting that Christian women have revealing photos taken of themselves and post them online through various social media networks. I know I'm old fashioned....and I'm sure that will be abundantly clear by the end of this post....but hasn't something happened to decency and modesty over the years? They're virtually disappearing...in the name of "context"....let me explain...

A Christian woman (not "all" but many) has no problem posting a photo of herself in a bikini taken at the beach and stored in some social media photo album under the heading "Summer Vaca '10" or "Aruba with the Fam"...in this full body photo, the woman is wearing something that is covering about 9% of her body..and what is covered is skin tight...hardly anything left to the imagination. And this photo is not only tolerated by others in the same Christian circle, but peppered with comments like: "U look Beautiful" and "Wow...Hott". Now....imagine it in a different context.....

same woman, same pose, same amount of skin showing....BUT....instead of a bathing suit...it's underwear. And...instead of the photo being of her standing on the beach, she's lying on a bed....nothing about the visibility of her body has changed...but he context has...now...in those same Christian circles...this photo is disastrously inappropriate and vulgar.

Or

There's thousands of photos of teenage (or younger)girls online (again, many in Christian circles) taken in a dance studio or during a recital while they are wearing tight, revealing leotards or skin-showing "Dance-wear" and no one thinks twice....It's regarded as "stunning" and "adorable". Take the same contextual scenario played out above, and you've got borderline child pornography charges on your hands.

Modesty is a dissolving virtue in our culture. This concept of contextually acceptable promiscuity baffles me. As with most of my dilemmas...I have no real answers, just a handful of thoughts and a bewildered mind. But..I guess that I can say....

There's tremendous pressure, in our culture, for a woman to look a certain way, dress a certain way, etc. The reality is that (especially for the younger women) many are doing this out of huge insecurities in order to gain acceptance in their social circle which is dominated by an army of idiotic, unskilled, disrespectful, poorly-parented boys.

I guess this is the closest that I've ever come in my blog to anything that could be described as a "rant". I'm sure that if I stared at this screen long enough...I'd just keep typing and typing on the subject...so I'll call it quits...While there's more that I'd probably like to say...the lion's share of my rant has been layed out. I guess, in the end....

I'm grateful for a modest wife. I'm grateful for the privilege of raising a little girl to be a virtuous, modest, young woman and eventually....wife. I pray for those who feel that they need to display themselves in such suggestive ways in order to boost their self esteem or be accepted into their social circles....or even more...

I especially pray for those who just think that it's innocent and o.k.