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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

What she said...

Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her a reward of her labors, and let her works praise her at the city gates. ~Proverbs 31: 30-31

There is, of course, a difference between this sort of idea, the idea that a woman ought to make herself attractive to the opposite sex so she can then manipulate them into the sort of behavior she wants from them, and merely wanting to dress or look nice. But I've seen the blurring of the line from time to time, when women will describe, say, a vintage-inspired look as "sassy" or "flirty," or sigh over a time when "feminine" women got what they wanted with a careful batting of the eyelashes and a slowly-curving, red-lipsticked smile. To be fair, I'm not sure there ever really was such a time; the woman in that pleasant daydream was just as likely to be told, curtly, by her other half to quit wasting his time with her tricks and get dinner on the table--but it's the idea that it's both acceptable and essentially feminine to be a flirt that I find disturbing.

You can read the rest here. We women don't like to have our ideas challenged, but if that challenge makes us look honestly and objectively in an examination of conscience kind of way at what we believe in the light of what God would have us believe, isn't that a good thing?

1 comment:

  1. My 8 year old daughter has been coquettish from birth. I think that is why she has me for a mother because I am not at all charmed and harp on her constantly for this behavior. My husband found it cute (when she was 2 or 3), but I convinced him early on it was unacceptable. It is wholly manipulative, and he is her prime target.

    Now, if she tried that on her brothers, I might let it pass, but she prefers to cry to get her way with them.

    I know families with all boys, and I am grateful to have girls for the slightly calming aspect they bring to a household. But THIS sort of issue, I could do without.

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