Making peace with our bodies (continued)
by the Rev. Laura Gentry
 

We’re smart women. We know these media images are false. We know that’s not what real women look like, that this brand of beauty is unattainable. Even so, the image of the “perfect”  female figure is so pervasive that we can hardly help but internalize this ideal. We find ourselves forever at odds with our bodies because we simply cannot meet that standard of perfection.

This ideal, in fact, is oppressive and dangerous to us. According to researchers, repeated exposure to this ideal is linked to depression, loss of self-esteem, and the development of unhealthy eating habits. About 90 percent of women overestimate their body size. Apparently, we have lost the ability to perceive ourselves as we really are. So we diet or complain about the need to be on a diet even though 95 percent of diets fail and can lead to eating disorders and other health problems. Nevertheless, the diet industry has grown to more than a whopping $46 billion a year and is projected to reach more than $61 billion by 2008. Can you imagine the good that could be done with $61 billion if it were spent on worthy projects?

The startling statistics go on and on. Clinical psychologist Margo Maine sums it up by saying that “most women in westernized cultures are waging war against their natural bodies.” Waging war?

This certainly can’t be what the God of Peace intends for us. We were created in God’s image, weren’t we? Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, aren’t they? So if we hate our bodies, as our culture’s media encourages us to do, does that mean we hate God? Is that like saying, “God, your creation isn’t good enough. I’d love you more if I looked better in a miniskirt?"

I have lectured and led workshops on this topic for several years now, and I’ve come to the conclusion that body image is a faith issue. As Christians, we believe that God has made us. Our bodies are gifts — blessings that are designed to bless others, not commodities to be forced into the media's and culture’s narrow ideal of feminine beauty. As a matter of faith, it is imperative that we make peace with our bodies, that we actively reject this destructive ideal, and embrace ourselves as unconditionally as God does.

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Here the Apostle Paul declares that the Holy, life-giving Spirit lives within us, both individually and within the community. It was written primarily to remind the Christians of Corinth that as the body of Christ, they needed to move beyond dissension and embrace unity.

I think it also applies to us as we consider body image issues. If the very Spirit of God chooses to dwell in our bodies, they must be pretty amazing places. How, then, can we justify hating our bodies, as so many women do? A temple should be treated with reverence, not disdain. If we take this Scripture seriously, it should cause us to accept our bodies and to be good stewards of them, optimizing our health with exercise and nutritious food. A temple deserves such treatment.

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The models pictured in this issue answered a specific question about beauty. Visit Coffee Talk and answer it for yourself.