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Discussion Forum : General Topics : Enough: Or, why we should all be laughing hysterically in the magazine aisle (Mostly for Women)

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StarofG0D
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Joined: 2007/10/28
Posts: 1232
United States

 Enough: Or, why we should all be laughing hysterically in the magazine aisle (Mostly for Women)

(Thought this was an interesting read and point of view of things.)

I can’t for the life of me recall what book I read it in, but I remember an author saying once that he raised his children to be wary of consumerism by teaching them to laugh at commercials.

Like, the whole family would sit around the TV together and bust out laughing when someone from LG asked, “Is it a washer? Or something better?”

(It’s just a washer.)

I’ve decided I like this idea, particularly as a woman, who most advertisers seem to take for a complete idiot.

Case in point: Last night, Eva Longoria winked at me from the TV screen and, with a gold-colored tube of mascara between her fingers, said, “Don’t just volumize your lashes! Millionize them!”

Okay, first of all, Eva, neither “volumize” nor “millionize” are words.

Second of all, even if it were scientifically possible to “millionize” my lashes, would that really be safe? (I’m getting a creepy vision of Animal in a Muppet Special.)

Millionize your lashes!



And third of all, if L’Oreal wants to join the feminist movement for real, how about they begin by not perpetuating the stereotype that girls are so bad at math and science that they’ll go out and buy a product that promises to “millionize” their eyelashes.? I mean, what’s next? A “trillionizer?” A “gazillionizer”? When you start with “millionize,” there’s nowhere else to go but crazy town.

It reminds me of the text on the back of my shampoo bottle, which promises that all my dry, frizzy hair needs is a little “fortified fruit science” and all will be well.

Fortified fruit science.

Because that’s a thing.

You gotta laugh at this stuff to keep from crying.

Same goes for the magazine aisle. Strategically placed near the checkout line at the grocery store, where, after a frustrating hour of decision-making, calorie counting, list checking, and child-bribing, women would otherwise be forced to stop, wait, and ask themselves a few questions about the meaning of their existence, the magazine aisle dazzles us with photoshopped images of super-skinny models, next to impeccably arranged place settings, next to actresses praised for losing their baby weight in five minutes, next to Martha Stewart holding a perfectly frosted chocolate cake.

As if all of those scenarios are possible at once.

The headlines say things about “10 Ways to Snag a Man” and “4 Recipes Your Family Will Love” and “29 Ways To Lose Weight And Still Eat a Donut Every Day,” but what we really read is:

Are you pretty enough?

Are you crafty enough?

Are you sexy enough?

Are you stylish enough?

Are you domestic enough?

Are you enough?

Too often, we forget to laugh at the absurdity of these questions, and instead find ourselves grabbing a magazine from the rack, flipping through its pages, desperately looking for something that might make us “enough”— fortified fruit science, perhaps?

Well, last week, TIME Magazine skipped past all the subtleties and came right out with it. Next to the now infamous picture of a thin, provocatively posed, bombshell of a mother, defiantly breastfeeding her nearly four-year-old son, were printed the words:

Are you mom enough?

The cover sparked a flurry of responses as women around the world issued a collective, “W**, TIME?”

There has to be a way to write a compelling cover story on attachment parenting without exploiting every woman’s deepest insecurities, pitting mothers against one another, and making this poor kid’s future college life a nightmare!

But the way I see it, TIME gave us a something of a gift. By stripping that cover of all pretense, it revealed in plain language the lie behind so much of the media’s messages for women: If you aren’t a sexy, put-together, powerful, super-mom, who breastfeeds her kids until they’re four while baking apple pies, making crayon art, and investing in a successful career, then you’re a failure. You will always fall short. You will never be enough.

Such an idea is so absurd, it should elicit laughter, not groans. It’s like millionized lashes and fortified fruit science—too stupid to take seriously!

And yet a small part of us believes it.

Why?

This whole idea of the “ideal woman” is one reason I decided to take on my year of biblical womanhood project. I hated how well-intentioned pastors and leaders were taking the Bible I loved so much and turning into yet another magazine cover that asks: “Are you biblical enough?”

And by “biblical,” most pointed to a glamorized, westernized version of the Proverbs 31 Woman, who rises before dawn each day, provides food for her family, trades fine linens for a profit, invests in real estate, and works late into the night weaving and sewing. Christian books and conferences tend to perpetuate the idea that a woman’s worth should be measured by the details, rather than the message, of Proverbs 31, and like the magazines in the checkout line, often focus on fitness, domesticity, beauty, and success as ways of earning the favor of God and men.

But here’s the thing.

The poetic figure found in Proverbs 31 is not the only woman in the Bible to receive the high praise of, “eshet chayil!” or “woman of valor!”

So did Ruth.

And Ruth could not be more opposite than the Proverbs 31 Woman.

Ruth was a Moabite (a big no-no back then; men were forbidden from marrying foreign wives).

Ruth was childless.

Ruth, was a widow— “damaged goods” in those days.

Ruth was dirt poor.

Rather than exchanging fine linens with the merchants to bring home a profit to her husband and children, Ruth spent her days gleaning leftovers from the workers in the fields so she and her mother-in-law could simply survive!

And yet, despite looking nothing like the ancient near Eastern version of a magazine cover, Ruth is bestowed with the highest honor. She is called a woman of valor. Eshet chayil!

She is called a woman of valor before she marries Boaz, before she has a child with him for Naomi, before she becomes a wealthy and influential woman.

Because in God’s eyes, she was already enough.

The brave women of Scripture—from Ruth to Deborah to Mary Magdalene to Mary of Bethany—remind me that there’s no one right way to be a woman, and that these images of perfection with which we are confronted every day are laughable to those of us who are in on the big secret: We are already enough.

We are enough because God is enough, and God can turn even the smallest acts of valor—letting go of a grudge, cleaning puke out of a kid’s hair, inviting the homeless guy to dinner, listening to someone else’s story— into something great.

Proverbs 31:25 says the wise woman “laughs at the days to come.”

I don’t think the Proverbs 31 Woman laughs because she has it all together.

I think she laughs because she knows the secret about being enough.

And so my big act of valor this week will be simple: I’m going to pick up the first magazine I see in the grocery store, point to the cover, and laugh like a maniac, right in front of God and everybody.

....Let’s just hope it’s not something sophisticated like The Atlantic, cause then I would look like an idiot.

http://rachelheldevans.com/enough


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Michelle

 2012/5/22 10:59Profile
onemite
Member



Joined: 2011/9/19
Posts: 168


 Re: Enough: Or, why we should all be laughing hysterically in the magazine aisle (Mos

I just wanted to acknowledge this post before it disappears. I went for the "Like" button and realized where I'm at. :) Since I like to read everything from cereal boxes to shampoo bottles, I have to say I've noticed some silly words and phrases that have made me laugh when I took the time to notice. Start reading advertisements and you will find you will laugh aloud too!
But I know the whole point of the article isn't to point out all the absurdities surrounding us which speak to man's discontent and covetous heart, but to point out the fact that Christ is always enough and In Christ we are always enough. In Christ there will be no dead works... Unless the Lord build the house the labors work in vain?
This message comes very timely for me. Thank you for posting. :)

 2012/5/22 15:33Profile
Jeremy221
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Joined: 2009/11/7
Posts: 1532


 Re: Enough: Or, why we should all be laughing hysterically in the magazine aisle (Mos

I have trouble with these types of articles because they lack a fundamental element, Christ. The writers often take a legalistic approach to fulfillment which the Romans clearly states is impossible. The true answer is a life in the Spirit which will result in true selfless service. The great thing is that this life in Christ will bear the fruit that makes any woman beautiful and desirable that meek and gentle spirit that is of great price before the Lord. You become like the one you worship.

 2012/5/22 16:14Profile
StarofG0D
Member



Joined: 2007/10/28
Posts: 1232
United States

 Re:

Hi Jeremy221,
"The great thing is that this life in Christ will bear the fruit that makes any woman beautiful and desirable that meek and gentle spirit that is of great price before the Lord. "
This is exactly what the original author was saying. Did you miss it?

Thanks for the comment onemite.


_________________
Michelle

 2012/5/22 16:18Profile
DEADn
Member



Joined: 2011/1/12
Posts: 1395
Lakeland FL

 Re:

THe original post reminds me someone of the women's studies class I took. Advertizers use certain gimmicks to portray woman in certain ways. Many times to show them and dumb.

One commercial that I noticed has a major slant is a ford mustang commercial. The car is going down the road and the camera looks an a specific person. The car then changes to that color whether it is solid or wavy. Well, the car comes to a little girl in a ballerina pink outfit. THe car changes to it and then quickly goes to pure black. Then we see the little girls outfit all black. It is example of pink and girl not being a definition of toughness as the ford Mustang is a muscle car.

Often times some of these commercials, especially the ones on radio are laughing and nearly insulting in our awful they are put together.


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John

 2012/5/22 16:25Profile
Trekker
Member



Joined: 2011/7/29
Posts: 683
northern USA

 Re: Enough: Or, why we should all be laughing hysterically in the magazine aisle (Mos

Very thought-provoking post here. Never thought of Ruth that way before. Your post also makes me think of Hannah. Doesnt seem that she was out making big bucks for the family either, in addition to being childless.

My act of valor this week was just getting dressed... and also going outside and sitting in the sunlight for the first time in a couple years (not related to any fears but related to a disabling condition).

Sometimes an act of valor can consist of QUITTING an impossible job, and just trusting God to provide. Done that too.

As for those magazines...ugh...just yesterday i commented to a hair stylist at a salon i was at that the magazines (she had brought me 3 magazines at my request and they were all called "Glamour"--there's a laugh for ya!) i was flipping through desperately searching for something with even a microscopic amount of intelligence in it to read...i commented to her in disgust that they were so "full of smut" that they were practically pornographic. This is the way with ALL fashion and health magazines now: they are all focused on sex. In the magazines called "Health", "Men's Health", and "Women's Health" the majority of articles AND pictures seem to have to do with sex in all it's forms(outside of marriage, of course). It just makes me so sorry for this generation and the next and how they are bombarded with this stuff almost from birth now. Children are being sexualized today in a way that we have never seen before in this country. It is just so, so sad.

 2012/5/22 17:05Profile
Jeremy221
Member



Joined: 2009/11/7
Posts: 1532


 Re: Christ

StarofGOD,

Christ is not present in this blog post. I take issue with the fact that the writer affirms many of the ideals promoted by American, Canadian and other Western cultures rather than honestly bringing in the Word. Are calorie counting, child-bribing and list checking of God? Is TV watching really harmless? There is a fundamental question that must be asked here, am I truly basing my life on the Word?

I have seen both extremes of Christians who are either fully immersed in the World and those who have moved themselves into a bubble. The deciding factor that separated faithful was the source of their lives. If it was based on good intention and ideals, it failed. The rarest are founded on Christ, the Risen Christ. Living communion free from pragmatism and the fear of man.

Quote:
Submitting to Christ's Sovereignty by Alan Redpath

Topic: Submission
http://media.sermonindex.net/21/SID21913.mp3

 2012/5/22 17:19Profile
Trekker
Member



Joined: 2011/7/29
Posts: 683
northern USA

 Re:

QUOTE: "The great thing is that this life in Christ will bear the fruit that makes any woman beautiful and desirable that meek and gentle spirit that is of great price before the Lord. You become like the one you worship."==JEREMY




Well spoken.

 2012/5/22 17:57Profile
StarofG0D
Member



Joined: 2007/10/28
Posts: 1232
United States

 Re:

Ouch...
brother...can call you brother? or should i write down all my doctrinal beliefs first?
She is not promoting these things. And how do you know she watches tv all the time? are you judging her? assuming the worst about her? maybe she was in a place the tv was being watched..not her home..and the tv was on she unexpectedly walked in on this commercial. do you know the exact scenario enough to judge her in this way?

If you read the end of the article, this was the author's POINT, that in Christ, we are made whole.

I have a high respect for you on all that you post on this website. Forgive me if this article Offended you.


_________________
Michelle

 2012/5/22 17:57Profile
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re: Enough: Or, why we should all be laughing hysterically in the magazine aisle (Mos

Michelle,

I get your point. I may not be laughing at the stupidities that the secular media throws at females - I am more disgusted.

Females are being bombarded by the advertising industry that we are not good enough, pretty enough, healthy enough - we are always falling short of someone's ideal. Hear this long enough and it will have an impact on how you think about yourself AND males as well. It always (or used to) looked as though males have everything going for them. However, the tide has changed. Now we see this thing being turned on to the males and they are crying foul! Hey! y'all! that is what we have been experiencing for years. And I would suppose this is what fueled the feminist movement: the innate desire to be someone accepted for what she is, namely the dominate male[s] in her life, beginning with dad.

When John the Baptist came preaching his first mission was to turn the father's heart to the children. This ministry paved the way for Jesus' that came a little later. How much more we need it today!

Females are also created in God's image. We want to beloved by daddy, granddaddy, uncles, male cousins. We need to have our value affirmed by the important males hanging from our family tree. Tragically, too many males look at females as toys to be played with, used for personal pleasure and nothing more.

This mindset does not rest in the heart of Jesus nor his followers.

God is beautiful, awesome, wonderful...let us never forget that. We are also crafted in His image...


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Sandra Miller

 2012/5/22 22:06Profile





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