Objectification of Women (Carrie Prejean) Worse Than Gay Marriage

Tuesday I highlighted the rank hypocrisy of the Christian Right that will embrace a topless model as their spokesmodel. (It could be the repressed fundagelicals just like the excuse to look up "Carrie Prejean" on Google Images.) My point is that the objectification of women (complete with fake breasts) does much more harm to our national moral fiber than any two guys holding hands and trading wedding rings.

Bob Ellis finds this point to be "Cory's teenage spin."

Fine. Try this:

You can find racy photos in many popular magazines. While the ads may look like they're made for adults, a sexual exploitation expert says they target children, making them think it's OK to be provocative.

You can find ads like these in magazines at just about any grocery store or gas station and national expert Cordelia Anderson [not a teenager, not a spin doctor] says they're sending the wrong message.

"For girls it's you're supposed to be sex objects and to be used. And for boys, you're supposed to be exploiters, the users, the takers and pornography makers and it's not healthy for our girls or boys," sexual exploitation expert Cordelia Anderson said.

Anderson shared that message at a Child Abuse Conference today in Sioux Falls. She says on average, children see about 30,000 of these ads per year [Courtney Zieller, "Expert Speaks out about Racy Magazine Photos," KELOLand.com, 2009.05.14].

Racy magazine photos: you know, the kind the Christian Right's darling Miss California posed for... and the kind that can be made out of the bikini parades beauty pageants present. It doesn't matter what politics you espouse: objectifying women is bad, and Carrie Prejean buys 100% into objectifying herself.

That discussion will be part of our home school curriculum. Better make sure it's part of yours, too, Bob.

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Update 2009.05.16: For another Christian perspective, see Father Fountain at Northern Plains Anglican, who says to his fellow believers, "Our iconography sucks these days."