When I was in high school or junior high Victoria’s Secret catalogs began to show up at our house. To me, these were a gold mine of images. It wasn’t “really porn” (to me at the time), so it was easy to justify a few lingering looks.
As I’ve grown, my convictions about this have become stronger … not (I hope) because I’m becoming more legalistic, but because I’m learning to care more for the girls on the page. In my high school mind, these were objects to desire. Unfortunately that’s how too many men (myself included at times) look at women. They aren’t children of God created in His image to be washed, nurtured and cherished. They are objects to acquire, to be conquered, to be won.
This thought struck home recently when a Victoria’s Secret model, Kylie Bisutti, quit so that she could honor God and her husband with her body. She told Fox & Friends …
Bisutti wasn’t raised a Christian, but when she was 15 years old she was invited to church and was later baptized. She said being a Victoria’s Secret model “wasn’t honoring my marriage. I truly, truly believe that my body should be for my husband and him alone, and here it was for all these other men. I was in men’s magazines, and it just didn’t feel right for me.”
She also realized that her career was doing more than just dishonoring God, herself and her husband. It was having an effect on younger women.
She recalled a heartbreaking conversation with her 8-year-old cousin who saw her as a role model. Bisutti’s cousin wanted to be just like her but, “She told me she felt like she had to throw up her food to be beautiful, and it broke my heart. I don’t want to be that kind of person that makes little girls feel that way.”
After Bisutti made the decision to quit, she thought her career was over. That wasn’t the case, as modeling gigs came in that didn’t require her to sacrifice her values. “I’m so much happier, and I feel like it’s just my inner beauty coming out more, in full clothing.”
So men … next time you’re tempted to look at a woman (any woman) as an object, remember – her body doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to God and her husband. If you’re dating, you’re still not her husband, so respect her future husband.
Women … next time you’re wondering if you need to trade a little skin, affection or flirtation to secure your position in a relationship, remember, you are far more valuable than that. You are more than a body. You are created in the image of God. You are Jesus’ sister and He wants to protect you from that.
Let’s be holy as He is holy!
(UPDATE – thanks to a good friend who pointed out that the video posted was not helpful. Ironic that the news story about her repenting of lingerie modeling had clips of her lingerie modeling.)
