Yesterday I helped out at a craft afternoon, where the students held a pamper room, and it's amazing just how a little bit of nail varnish can make you feel better - especially when someone else wants to paint your nails for you. (Sorry boys.)
So, as a little bit of nail varnish makes women (well me at least) feel better about my physical self, I thought I'd share a couple of bible verses that make me feel better about my whole self.
"Since you are precious and honoured in my sight,
and because I love you."
Isaiah 43:4
"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,"
Psalm 139: 13-14
I sometimes find it hard to find meaning in the Bible when there are only a few women who have agency. It sometimes feels like I'm allowed to rehash and take instruction from the actions of men, but that the women who have to 'dress modestly' are very much removed from having their own thoughts and feelings. Then I get a bit annoyed that I have take Paul's word for it and not that of an actual woman. And receiving all my guidance for life through a man sometimes feels like I have to translate everything and it's not quite clear, like a photocopy of a photocopy. It doesn't feel like there is a wealth of information on how to be a follower of Jesus and also a woman in the 21st century.
ReplyDeleteGeorgina
I guess that we need to question our motives for how we dress. By dressing modestly we allow people to see us for who we are rather than who we potray ourselves to be through our clothes. So instead of being detached from thoughts and feelings we can instead be remember for our thoughts and actions, rather than the girl who wears x, y and looks like/has z. Does that make sense? And as our character will change as we grow more in our Christian life, we will reflect and worship God more through how we are and how we act. So by dressing modestly, we reflect God's glory rather than by being remembered for our clothes/body (depending how unmodestly we have dressed)
DeleteLikewise, I don't think Paul is just directing men when he writes his letters, they are addressed to the churches he is writing too, therefore the men and women of those churches. So I see that his teaching is just as applicable to men as it is women, yes he might say 'brothers' but it really means the people of the church.
Jess
My motives for dressing are sometimes about playing characters, I often dress as stereotypes e.g. church girl, goth, butch lesbian, middle class old woman, hipster, sarcastic Tumblr user, slut, average human, boy. People judge others so much based on what you wear that I genuinely find entertainment in people's reactions to clothes, e.g. turning up to a seminar in a totally black outfit as a goth, then the next week as a Sloane in a pink cashmere polo neck and pearls, then the following seminar in a dress, cardigan and hat. Each time different people have either seemed more friendly, more dismissive or more accepting of me. Through dressing up and playing characters I find out what people think of certain stereotypes of people. I suppose the major benefit of this is that you see who is really judgmental of clothing and who isn't and then avoid/befriend them as preferred. I'm not sure if you can 'dress for God's glory' if you're worried that sexualised areas of your body will be misinterpreted, who is doing the misinterpreting and who is sexualising you? Surely one ought to dress in a way that makes them happy, rather than being worried that 'people might get the wrong idea'?
ReplyDeleteBut then I think this is why fashion and clothing are such contentious and inescapable issues, even by saying that you withdraw from dressing in a particular way is in itself an opinion based on reaction to clothing.
So yeah, not really sure where I was going with that. I think that what I was trying to say was that I'm not comfortable with people judging me for what I wear, and that instead of trying to fit in with a group of expectations about character which are signified by clothes I would prefer that people actually judged me on my character.
Hah, if that actually made sense to anyone then they can have a medal.
Georgina
I'm going to have a think and get back to you, because I think you have raised some very important clothes points, of which I'm with you, but not sure whether biblically it is something we should think.
DeleteRight, I think I've tried to cover too many topics in one blog, so I've deleted the clothes part because it is unhelpful partly because it's a huge topic, but mainly because it hasn't got the slightest bit of relevance to the topic of the blog.
DeleteBut, it regards to your questions, by first point is - coffee and chat? (At least I'm assuming your Georgina Hewlett) because this is a big can of worms and I think discussing face to face is a better idea. But, my clothing rule is: if I'm wearing it because I like the fact it draws attention to/enhances x part of my body/and I want to impress someone, should I really be wearing it? Because, like you said, I want someone to like me for who I am rather than what I look like.
Coffee and a chat sounds really good! I just sometimes feel like this stuff never gets brought up and as it's something that occurs everyday, it's a bit weird.
ReplyDelete