Lately, I've spent a lot of time with all three kids on the issue of respect and kindness. The deal is, we live in  a hyper-sexualized society, and buying into the mindset that one's appearance is the most important aspect of their being is devastating. Obviously, life becomes narrow and flat.

I feel overwhelmed sometimes at the daily barrage of sexualized images that my kids face. It's insidious! It's everywhere! This week, I told my mother in law to stop giving my daughter  teen-magazines. They have nothing to offer, except New ways to judge oneself against Photoshopped images of anorexic models. (How is it that just one generation separates us, but we are WORLDS APART?)  It's hurtful for my son, too. I want him to see people as beings, not just bodies. 

Before kids, this was about equality. Now it's more. Dignity. Love. Vulnerability. Humanity.



Comments

Thersites said…
divide the whole into its parts... the subject and the object. They often have opposite qualities. the caring/compassionate subject... the sexualized object.
Thersites said…
on which "part" do we choose to emphasize/ focus??? Which part "sells"? And THAT is the purpose of a Teen magazine. To be "sold".
Thersites said…
...and unfortunately for the singer, she is also in the business of "selling".
Jen said…
That is the sole purpose of the magazine. At any "cost". :(

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