Since the age of four, Demi Lovato has said she has struggled with body image issues. After years of self-harm, substance abuse and suffering with anorexia, at the age of 23 she has finally stepped out as confident.
Nude photoshoots are not in short supply in the entertainment industry. But this is the first shoot Demi has done with no clothes, no makeup -- completely raw. And almost surprisingly, there is seemingly little to no controversy surrounding the singers latest spread in Vanity Fair. The shots are tastefully done and echo an empowering attitude on loving ourselves, and I, for one, have seen nothing but support for Lovato. Perhaps this is because her approach is based on body love as opposed to controversy. But as Christians, where do we stand?
Body image culture today has never been quite so open and well, bare. Literally. In the past 100 years, American culture has slowly but surely escalated to where it stands today, but it hasn't been an easy transition, especially in the church. In fact, the church has always stood on a premise that can be summed up in two words: "cover up." As women in the church there seems to be no in between of being open and loving your body and being respectful of those around us.
Body shame doesn't just come from our own perceptions in the mirror. After all, where do we learn to hate ourselves? Where do learn that it's not okay to be curvy, or to show off our legs? Where do we learn to always be mindful and careful about what others think about our bodies even if we're proud of the skin we're in? It's not just in church. It screams at us through TV shows, movies, music and social media. While men like Zac Efron can show off all they want and are praised and ogled over for pictures of their derrières and other such parts, women can barely show cleavage without being torn down and ridiculed even by other women. Whether it's an episode of "The View" or the girls grouped together in youth group, we as women are constantly told that we are just too much. That we need to slow down, maybe pray, and put on some clothes.
The reality of statements like that? When we're told that we're too much, or we're showing too much, our perception then warps into "we are not enough." We're inadvertently told that even if we love our bodies, and if we work hard to get to where we want so that we can be comfortable and confident, that we still can't step out into the world without ridicule. And when you do something out of love and courage and you're shot down every time, then you'll never be enough. Not to culture and not to yourself.
Perhaps the Christian response to Demi's shoot for Vanity Fair is different than the culture's. But perhaps there's something to be learned in Sunday School from today's culture that we haven't embraced yet. That the bodies we're given, and the motivation and the work we put into loving our bodies and loving ourselves is not worthless. And that we should be proud of who we are and be able to tell people about it. Certainly we can love our bodies without doing a nude photoshoot. But the reaction to Demi's spread is worth discussing. And there's no reason the church shouldn't be engaged in that without making both men and women feel shame.
The lesson to be learned from this shoot is that loving your body isn't just for celebrities and it's not just for Demi, but it's for everyone. And our perception of nudity that lies in sex and lust needs to be dramatically shifted. Because as long as we look at a naked body and we ridicule and critique while still aching to have it, we'll never see it as something worth loving or preserving. The sex culture that surrounds shoots like this is hopefully changing, and from Demi's motivation and the response she's getting for stepping out to say something beautiful about her body as opposed to sexualizing, we are seeing that culture can change. And perhaps as the entertainment industry begins to love bodies simply for their beauty, the church can recognize that the image we're made in is not something to be ashamed of. Again, perhaps in the church it's not something to so openly show off the way Demi has, but she's beginning to teach both media and the church what it means to not look at our bodies with disgust or contempt.
And that will always be worth talking about.
