Since choices of ones clothing seems to be a controversial subject it may be easy to dismiss all comments that are negative to your "it's my body..." view with, "you're just too old-fashioned"- right? Yet according to experts you may not be correct.
A study done by the American Psychological Association (APA) determined that a constant barage of sexualized images of young girls and women in the media is harmful to their self image and healthy development. This report gave the results of their research on the content, and effects of media; TV, music videos and lyrics, magazines, movies, video games and the Internet. Their defining of sexualization was based on the idea that a person's value came predominately on sexual appeal or behavior.
Among other problems the onslaught of such images were linked to three of the most common mental health problems among girls and women over 18; eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression.
The issue doesn't just stop with girls over 18, however. One popular brand which targets girls ages 7 to 12 years of age, according to a special report in The Washington Post, said that $1.6 million retail sales came from thong underwear alone. And in one popular store, graphic tees sized for "tweens" were adorned with phrases like "Flirt" and "D is for Diva."
Immodest dress is negatively affecting many in ways they don't realize. Acording to the psychologist - once the girls are hooked on such clothing choices, it's a never-ending cycle. They simply graduate to more self-denegrating forms of clothing and self-image.
The study also showed that "If girls purchase (or ask their parents to purchase) products and clothes designed to make them look physically appealing and sexy, and if they style their identities after the sexy celebrities who populate their cultural landscape, they are, in effect, sexualizing themselves. Girls also sexualize themselves when they think of themselves in objectified terms. Psychological researchers have identified self-objectification as a key process whereby girls learn to think of and treat their own bodies as objects of others’ desires (Frederickson & Roberts, 1997; McKinley & Hyde, 1996). In self-objectification, girls internalize an observer’s perspective on their physical selves and learn to treat themselves as objects to be looked at and evaluated for their appearance. Numerous studies have documented the presence of self-objectification in women more than in men. Several studies have also documented this phenomenon in adolescent and preadolescent girls (McConnell, 2001; Slater & Tiggemann, 2002)."
Modesty of course involves our way of dressing, but it also involves our way of thinking — what is in our soul — and that effects what we put on. As Elizabeth Elliott so aptly stated, "The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian makes me a different kind of woman."
As a Christian we are called to a different lifestyle. As someone said, "we are like princesses in training, awaiting the opportunity to rule." It really does matter what we choose to wear!"
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