I've been hearing and reading a lot lately about this younger, very spoiled and opinionated generation that wants it ALL. After reading the book, Generation Me by Dr. Jean Twenge, psychology professor at San Diego State University in California, I became somewhat depressed. Why? They have learned well from their Baby Boomer parents - that is, its all about THEM. Evangelical Christian Ingrid Shlueter sees it and so does moderate feminist Twenge. In fact, it's really amusing for me to hear quite a few feminists bemoaning what their younger followers - those women who are college age and a little beyond - are doing with their lives, especially sexually. And many of the feminists aren’t happy. "Hey!" They say. "We didn't fight for equal rights so you could allow every boy in town to take you to bed."
Suddenly some feminists are becoming quite moralistic. In her book, Twenge cites a statistic that I've read in other places so I think it's fairly accurate. She says 83% of college women hook up regularly. If you don't know what hook up is, I'll explain. It's when you have sex with someone you really don't know that well or really care about. Why would girls do this you might ask? Many interviews tell us that the girls seem to think this is some kind of power for them. In other words, "If I don't care about a guy, I won't get hurt." This is precisely the Boomer divorce legacy.
The sad thing for these young women is the "R" word - REALITY. When they "grow up" (somewhere around 40 - at least hopefully by then) they will see how many really horrible mistakes they've made, and find that they really didn't know it all after all. And that is where the rubber meets the road.
So where do young Christian women fit in here?
Here is a snippet from an article that Ingrid Shlueter wrote entitled, It's 911 Time for Christian Girlhood. she writes,
One of the casualties of our culture's rejection of God has been womanhood. A women's movement that at one time fought for equal protection under the law for women, rights to custody of their own children and property ownership now is responsible for 18-year-old former cheerleaders being sent into combat in Iraq. The basic courtesies that used to be shown to women in public were abandoned decades ago. Girls are not taught how to care for their husbands and homes, they are put into sports leagues early on and taught how to ''kick some butt'', as one father put it. Girls need to learn how to fight and compete in this dog eat dog world, they say. Girls are expected to have a career track outside the home, and they are asked from early on what it is they want to ''be''. The styles and fashions point to a near total abandonment of modesty as power and instead, girls are taught that their sexuality is their power. That's why soft, feminine and modest clothing is unlikely to make a comeback in the girls and junior departments any time soon. To be feminine and modest is read as weakness and vulnerability today. Whereas once, womanhood was thought to be something worthy of male protection and respect, women are now one of the guys, with some highly flaunted anatomical differences. Rather than see sexuality as sacred and private, women have believed the lies of the media and see it as a tool to control and dominate.
Ye gads! Me thinks some (or perhaps much) of this worldly phenomenon might be catching in the Christian community too. Yes, I think so.
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3 comments:
Oh, without a doubt it's showing up in Christian community. At my children's Christian school, a parent's suggestion to skip the out-of-town basketball tournament and instead have a spiritual retreat was met with near howls of laughter. Thank goodness the teen girls wear white robes for Confirmation, because when the robes come off, it looks more like a hooker's gathering than a religious one. I feel truly sad for the adolescent boys in church during the summer months when girls show more flesh than you see in a lingerie catalog. And then there is the high school graduation invitation we recieved, from a good church going family, with a picture of the graduate in a skimpy top with a basketball between her legs. Among our Christian community, cool and trendy seem to have become more important than moral and faithful.
Agree! The church looks no different to me than the secular world - no different. I don't need to see cleavage from my worship leader, but that's what's going on. And do I even need to talk about what our little girls are playing with? A note on Barbie versus Strawberry Shortcake - at least Strawberry Shortcake looks like a little girl and not a prostitute. We're doing the Barbie Ban over here, not just for my two little girls, but my two little boys, who are learning about what biblical womanhood should resemble. Can I just move to another planet?
Excellent comments...thanks.
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