Over the last few days, my inbox has been hopping with news about the latest decision from Seventeen Magazine to publish a selection of photos that have not been digitally altered, buckling under the pressure of a social media campaign led by SPARK along with Miss Representation, Love Social, Endangered Bodies, and I Am That Girl.*
This buzz, which originally began with a 14 year old ballet dancer from Maine writing a letter to the publisher of Seventeen requesting the publication of one unaltered photo a month, which was initially declined, is hitting Facebook and is all over feminist-laden online websites. Kudos to Miss Julia, the young woman who led the charge, for deciding enough is enough with falsifying beauty and mocking authenticity. ABC News calls this feat girl power. Yes, maybe. Seventeen calls this the Body Peace Pledge. Well, I’m not so sure about that one! However, as I followed the rabbit trail of links, hunting down the details of this mass social media movement that targeted Seventeen and now is in hot pursuit of Teen Vogue, I came across statistics that turned my stomach.
80 percent of all 10-year-old girls have, at some point in their lives, gone on at least one diet.
[A total of] 53 percent of 13-year-old girls are unhappy with their bodies…That number increases to 78 percent by age 17.
40 and 60 percent of children ages 6 to 12 are concerned about their weight or becoming too fat, and 70 percent would prefer to be thinner.
As I’ve been writing about over the last six months, I truly believe it is time we live in the skin we’re in without the pretensions of being someone we’re not. It is time to redefine beauty, for ourselves, and for the next generation!
We’ve got a problem on our hands, sisters, and it needs a Biblical perspective. From nearly 20 years of mentoring teen girls combined with raising my own daughters, I’ve come to believe that the issues of eating disorders, dieting, depression, and obsession over appearance isn’t truly an issue of beauty. It is about identity. It is about worth.
The answers aren’t found in self-esteem and pretty words. The answers to the cries in a girl’s heart must be found in the truth and the cross, and pointed out by those who are supposed to love them best — moms, dads, teachers, mentors, friends. When a girl’s God-given uniqueness and gifting is not affirmed, she will find a way to get that need filled up by other means, often times changing her look or style to get a reaction of out others. She learns how to play the alteration game, secretly hoping that she’ll get noticed, which translates falsely into feeling loved. It is a dire course that leads to emotional destruction and physical pain. I know it because I lived it. Maybe you did, too?
I’ve had enough of seeing this cycle of devastation worm its way through one generation after another.
Seventeen says that this cycle ends with a Body Peace Treaty. Ahem. I politely disagree. I don’t think all their pact-driven concepts are wrong, but I do worry about the foundation on which they are built: “Remember that sometimes I will have down moments. And in those times, I will remind myself of how awesome I am by looking in the mirror and saying, “I’m good! I can do this! I’m number one!”
Really? Truly?
If my performance and my behavior
defines my beauty, than I am screwed.
{Pardon my french, but this makes me mad!}
I think this is what the Bible would call hollow philosophies of the world.
In other words, the promises that Seventeen offers us amounts to a hill of beans.
So what happens when I am not good and happen to be totally not awesome?
What will I do when I simply can’t succeed at the challenges before me?
How will I feel when I come in second…or dead last?
If my beauty is defined by how I feel about myself, it will forever be shifting. If it is defined by my behavior and attitude, that could either bode well for me or totally stink. Right there is the beauty loop-hole, because how we behave can, indeed, make us as attractive (or not attractive) as much as how we care for our external appearance.
The question of beauty is a major cultural issue.
The solution, however, isn’t found is cheerleader chants full of false promises.
We need to do battle for our identity by redefining beauty. It has got to be about how we live in the skin we’re in, using the gifts and talents bestowed on us by God. It has got to be rooted in the Truth — truth that is found in the Scriptures — because that is objective and not subjective.
Even when I am weak, I am strong in Christ.
Even when I feel unloved, He died because He loves me, always.
Even when I’ve been bad, there is always a path of repentance and hope of forgiveness.
Even when I come in last place, the Race is not over until eternity.
Our beauty can’t be about what we feel about ourselves, because beauty fades and turns and transforms. The cry of our heart to have our beauty affirmed is a confused with a longing to know our worth. We need to answer these questions by discovering our identity — who we are because of Whose we are. So who are we? Are we children of God through faith in Jesus, who saves and redeems us from our sin? If so, than that defines our beauty, as beloved children of God.
How has your definition of beauty been warped by the philosophies of this world?
Would you be willing to redefine it for yourself and the next generation?
I hope you will make the most of our Redefining Beauty resources
and prayerfully consider hosting a Redefining Beauty Event
at your church or home for women, teens, or moms.
{linking up with The Better Mom, Women Living Well, Raising Homemakers, WFW}
Sources:
Please note that I nor the ministry of More to Be can be held responsible for information found at the following links.
*Seventeen Magazine Celebrates Shapes and Sizes
I couldn’t agree with you more. Yes, we need to be healthy and sometimes changing our eating and exercise habits is part of that (I say while I am trying to do just that) but beauty and worth is defined by our relationship with Christ – God’s promises and His Word, not the world… and yet, so many have it flipped! Thanks for taking a stand!