Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen

Admittedly, I've never read Doctor Mary Pipher's book Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. (I read the excerpt of it on Amazon.com, though, and it looks very interesting.) Essentially, Doctor Pipher is saying that as girls enter the adolescent stage, they lose who they truly are inside and confine themselves into the narrow definition of women, that women must be docile and submissive and please others instead of thinking, "Who am I? What do I want?"

Some people think that feminism is not what the Bible teaches. The Bibles teaches that "Wives, submit to your husbands" (Ephesians 5:22). Some people take this very seriously. I know some people who used to go to a church who refused to let their wives work, because if wives earned their own income, you can't really be submissive to your husband.

I'm not a feminist, and yet I've never been one who bows my head or lowers my eyes at the oncoming male. When I first read that verse, I began to struggle with wondering that if God created all men (I take this to mean wo-men as well, too) equal, and if God loves us all, why should we be submissive? Why does it sound like men have to bruise our heads under their heel?

Then, I heard a sermon (unfortunately, I don't remember the source) that my mum was playing on our CD player which was very interesting... It said that women were not created from a bone from the man's leg, so that the man would not step on her; women were not created from the man's head, so that she would not rule the man. Instead, she was created from his ribs, so that she will be able to support him.

Slowly, I began to work my opinions out. I believe that women can have their own opinions (didn't the Lord not deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman?) and their own strength. In a healthy marriage, a husband and wife should talk it out, and the husband should hear his wife's opinions. But ultimately, it is the husband's decision.

(I know easier said than done, but that's another issue I'll deal with when I'm there :-D.)

For many years, I felt that I was and knew that I was rather unusual. I didn't like shopping, I never really struggled with self-image, I didn't really care what boys thought of me.

And the subject of "boys" is another issue.

I'm not afraid of guys and what they think of me. I've gotten something of a reputation of arguing with guys, not being afraid of being teased by them... For a while, it was fun. Then, after a while, my mum told me (with the best intentions) that I might be scaring guys off. This got me worried until one day, one of my guy friends started trying to hook me up with his best friend. When I inquired why, my friend said, "Well, he relates to you better than any girl."

"Oh."

I don't care if guys are scared off by me. In my opinion, that either means that they're expecting the girl to curl up, giggle and die, or they don't like me for who I am (or at least, the side that hates guys who expect girls to curl up, giggle and die).

But suddenly, recently, with a recent influx of more teenage girls into my homeschooling group of friends, I feel the pressure to conform...

Shopping, face, body, image...

If we are so liberated and emancipated, why do we fear what others think of us? Why can't we be proud to be women - a woman, the one who God intended for us to be? Who gives a shite about what the media wants us to be? You do realise that the image of skinny women only really came after the widespread influence of the media?

Be proud. Be you.