Morale Without Morals?

For any young man, whether he be in the military or one of the civilians, it is hard to go anywhere in Western society without having disrobed flesh shoved in his face. Since the seventies, especially, porn has become so engrained into American society. To the secular mind, the bachelor’s party before his wedding day “must” require a stripper. Boys have become hooked on it through hidden stashes of magazines they used to find. And what sort of mindset has it led to regarding the sex which is perverted through porn? “You’ll do it anyway, so what’s the big deal?” Long story short, anything which degrades human beings to acting like, or being seen as, nothing more than animals, should be refused rights and freedoms.

Thanks to individuals like Shelley Lubben, though, we are beginning to see movements rise up against the pornographic smothering we’re getting in society. Exposing something for what it is often shows people just how much distance they need from it. In exposing evil, however, we should not even allow hints of it to remain. After all, baby vipers are venomous too, and a bite from them is often more dangerous than by an adult. The trick is spotting these “smaller vices” and seizing them by the throat. What could be such a vice in connection to porn? One thing springs to mind clearly: bikini calendars.

“What?! You gotta be kidding! What’s so horrible about them? Haven’t you ever been to a garage before? And the pin-ups helped our boys during WII!” That is just one small “counter-argument” I can hear formulating on the lips of those who approve of them. Just to indulge such a reply, let’s break down that response bit by bit and explain.

“You gotta be kidding!” Actually, no I’m not. The modern bikini began in France, and was modeled by a stripper because no other woman would do it. This brings to mind only one purpose behind the bikini’s design: to stimulate an aroused response in men. One doesn’t need to see every inch of a woman’s anatomy to know she is beautiful, so what other purpose could there be to showing off more intimate areas of the body? Making human beauty cheap doesn’t make it more pleasing; all it does is make beauty standards fall.

“What’s so horrible about them?” For some, the only argument one needs is this singular Biblical verse: “Everyone who looks lustfully at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28) Bikini modeling, despite what some believe of the occupation, is being used in the same manner as porn: to reduce the image of women to nothing more than desirable objects to arouse the lustful instincts of men. Not only do women deserve better, but they should insist on better from one another, and from men. The same goes just so for men, but more on that later. But no matter their gender, every human being is made in the image of God, and is thus inherently deserving of being viewed as such. To refuse this is to deny the beauty and worth of God’s creation.

“Haven’t you been to a garage before?” Ah yes… the standard idea that garage workers have to have posters of topless or nearly-nude women up on the walls. Such an idea reflects an exclusion of the rights of family customers. Think about it: family cars can break down like every other car, right? Why should parents, who might have their children with them, have to “deal with it” if they have to bring their car to a garage for repairs? One has nothing to do with the other! Children have a right to their innocence, and to treat disordered lusts as if they have natural superiority over the rights of the children shows no signs of real adult behavior. For despite what we have been told for the past few decades, growing up actually means moving away from selfish tendencies and preferring to do what would be better for our own souls and the souls we encounter.

And speaking of those who do what is better for others, we finally arrive at the argument in favor of pin-ups. Whenever one things of WWII, the sub cabins or personnel quarters with a few small or large drawings of posing women is lumped with it all. Not only did it subtly encourage men to become adulterers in their hearts, and to their wives, if they were married, but it engrained this idea that men naturally are supposed to go to strip shows or look at magazines with women posing suggestively. Are we to deny this, at least as a factor, considering divorces began to skyrocket after the war was done? Even in movies, we slowly began to receive the lie that “love” can lead a husband or wife to go to bed with another, forsaking the marriage vows they made in the sight of one another, witnesses, and God Almighty!

So does that mean every woman who wears a bikini is somehow evil, or trying to tempt men? Of course not! One could say that we, as a civilization, have simply been desensitized to the idea of human flesh being so exposed at the beach or the poolside. It is time, however, to begin waking people up to the reality of what is happening in even the little things which lead to greater results. Besides, what could be the harm in refusing to buy pictures of bikini models? Letting a woman know she doesn’t need to show herself off to be beautiful is far more pleasing to her, and the impact of that lasts far longer!

“Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world.” – 1 Peter 5:8-9