Disposable creatures

We recently attended a fundraiser for NightLight International, a Christian organization that provides relief, rescue, and shelter for women trapped in prostitution and human trafficking in Thailand. There was a brief video explaining the group's mission with glimpses of the bar scene in Bangkok. The film was probably sanitized, but it was still sickening to see young girls dressed provocatively for the sole purpose of attracting male clientele. We learned that in these bars the women have name tags, but there's no name, just a number, reducing them to an item to be bartered and sold.

On the drive home, my daughter commented how these Thai women would give anything to be free from marketing themselves sexually, but  in our warped American culture, it seems that women want to be seen this way. In Thailand, they know only to well the ugliness and degradation of being exploited. Whereas in America, women blindly believe they are adding to their personal worth when they go as far as they can to uncover themselves.

If you think this is just Christian over-reaction, even an unbelieving feminist recognize the problem:

On the one hand, never in history have girls had so many opportunities, or shared so fully in the kind of power that was only recently reserved for boys. Girls now outperform boys on the SAT; women outnumber men in college, and we are nearing a point at which women will outnumber men in the country's law and medical schools. In the space of a few short decades, the entire landscape of what is possible for a girl has changed dramatically. But on the other hand, at the exact same moment, we have seen the birth of a common culture that is openly contemptuous of girls and young women. At every turn, girls - even the most carefully raised and deeply loved - are surrounded by a popular culture that exhorts them to think of themselves as sexually disposable creatures. The frank message of a thousand songs and websites is that women exist merely to please men. Some of the best and brightest girls have come to believe this poisonous message; we need look no further than the millions of Facebook pages to see that this is true.¹

In the junk mail ads of a popular hip retailer, the women's garments have about two-thirds less fabric than the men's. I kid you not, and it makes me angry with the purveyors and sad for the customers. We recently attended a wonderful gospel-centered wedding. Yet a good majority of the female guests would have benefited from a little more content to their dresses. To give these girls the benefit of the doubt, they probably purchased whatever was the latest fashion. But retailers and designers don't give a rip about a woman's worth or dignity. Profit is what matters and sex sells. (Probably the only thing it wouldn't sell are laxatives, but given enough time, I'm sure some Madison Avenue executive will come up with a campaign to do that. )

It's bleakly and blatantly obvious that the culture demeans women. There is no innate dignity from being made in the image of God, because the culture doesn't believe He exists, although it hates Him all the same. So what is Christian parent to do to help her daughter? Christian burkas? Pull the plug on social media? Throw out the malevolent TV, censor books, and ban movies?  Live in a bunker in the boonies? No contact with males other than immediate family until she's 40?

Seriously what can we do? More thoughts tomorrow...

1. Girl Land, Caitlin Flanagan, Little, Brown, and Co., 2012, pp. 6-7. (Thanks to Christina for the recommendation.)