As a young woman, obviously, I am all for the empowerment of all women. I believe that the strength that we all have been seriously undermined. Some of the most emotional, faithfully, and scientifically intelligent people I know are women, yet we are not portrayed to have such strengths as these. I truly do believe that women, especially nowadays need to work to show the world just how powerful we really are. However, by degrading ourselves, we are only showing weakness. We constantly have to fight to be more than objects of sex in this society. By acting as objects of sex, we are only furthering the problem.
We all have heard about people like Amber Rose and the “Slut Walk” against slut-shaming. She basically promotes sleeping around just for the fun of it. Just recently, another celebrity shared her opinions on slut-shaming, too. After posting nude photos on Instagram and receiving backlash from this photo, Kim Kardashian responded by saying “I am empowered by my sexuality… I hope that through this platform I have been given, I can encourage the same empowerment for girls all over the world… The body-shaming and slut-shaming—its like, enough is enough.” NO. I do not agree with this at all, whatsoever.
As someone who has fought a long hard battle with eating disorders, I understand that it is a hugely wonderful feeling to be empowered by your body. To be comfortable in the skin you are in and to accept the body that God has given you is a blessing. I get it, you work hard for this body and you won’t have it forever. However, I do not think that it is necessary to show most of your body to the world around you. Save it for that special someone. When someone has everything to flaunt but chooses not to be such a beautiful thing. Maybe I am old fashion in my ways, but I feel as though my bare butt is not something that the rest of the world should see. Maybe my raw, nude, exposed body is not something that everyone is meant to see. I don't think it's okay to show the world your naked body.
The fight to end slut-shaming is frightening. We should not be promoting sleeping around. Someday, you are going to meet a wonderful man, and he’s going to love you a whole lot. He’s going to find out that you slept with X number of people and it's going to break his heart. He’s going to wonder if anything about him really is special, or if you’re just willing to do this kind of thing for anyone. Sure, he will put it behind the both of you, but that initial feeling of sickness will always be there. OR there could be this spectacular man who is perfect for you in every single way. But you’ve already slept with 3 of his friends, so now he’s not even going to attempt to talk to his friend’s leftovers. Yes, there probably isn’t anything better than sex (not even donuts), however, you need to be able to control yourself.
You need to responsibly divulge in life’s great pleasures, believe me. (God thinks you should too! It’s in the Bible!) I am not saying wait until marriage to have sex. But at least, wait for someone special, not just some random dude while your drunk. Please, know someone enough to say “I love you” to them long before anything physical is done, it really is worth it. As a Christian feminist, it disgusts me, to see another woman disrespect herself, and disrespect God’s creation in that way. It truly saddens me, actually. I am 21 years old and I don’t even like going out because I hate seeing this type of behavior. The attention you are getting is not positive attention. Negative attention is not attention worthwhile at all! This is shameful behavior, and this is why slut-shaming is not wrong. It is not okay to sleep with anyone and everyone.
Someday I will have a daughter. Someday my baby sister is going to grow up. They are going to be young women someday and they are going to have choices to make. I do not want them to grow up in a world where sleeping around is a good thing. I do not want them to grow up in a world where showing your naked body to the world is a good thing. By condoning this behavior, we are adding to the problem. I never want my baby sister or my future daughter to think that it is okay to sleep around. I never want them to wonder what the name of that guy from last night was. I never want them to wonder if they will ever hear from that guy again. I never want them to wonder if just maybe, that discomfort they may feel is normal cramps, or quite possibly a disease. I never want them to wonder whether or not they're worth lies in the number of likes on a nude/semi-nude photo has. I only want them to reach their full potential, which they will never do if they are constantly downing another drink. I want blood to run through their veins, not liquid poison, and not some disease from that dude—what was his name, again?—or maybe that other one?
So ladies, please, you are so much better than going home with that dude, or posting that nude. Learn about yourself. Discover yourself. Better yourself in any way that you can. Set an example for the future women. Make the world a better place, where women are NOT objects of sex.
