I’ve been blogging
recently on our culture’s double standards with respect to physical appearance
for men and women, as well as the culture’s impossible standards for female
beauty. There are many disturbing
aspects of these phenomena. But as a
mother to daughters, one aspect that particularly concerns me is the struggle
of girls and young women to conform to these standards.
First, they are
unattainable standards. As I have noted
before, these images are not reality. Between
the Botox, the plastic surgery and the air-brushing, what we see is only an
idealized vision of what women should look like.
Young people especially
don’t always understand the falsity of these images. And it causes all kinds of pain when girls
and young women can’t make themselves look like these phony popular culture
images being lauded. When females try to
live up to these standards, it is equivalent to boys and young men trying to
live up to the standard set by the Superman character in comic books. It’s a no-win situation.
Second, as a person of
faith, I particularly worry about the misplaced time and effort when our youth
are encouraged to focus disproportionately on their appearance. At best, physical beauty is fleeting. It is not permanent. And Jesus taught us to minister to the
brokenness of those around us. That is
how we should use our time and resources instead of primping and buying tons of
make-up and accessories.
There are two songs I
wanted to share that seem apropos to these concerns about our culture’s
fixation on physical beauty. They are
accessible at the links below. I hope
you enjoy them.
“Beautiful” by Mercy Me
“Fingerprints of God” by
Steven Curtis Chapman
Matthew 7:24-27
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of
mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the
rock. The
rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that
house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into
practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat
against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” 
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