I disagree somewhat here … It depends on culture whether or not men per definition lust after a woman in a bathing suit.
First off, I have a hard time believing that. There are certain parts of the female body that should be reserved for husbands only, because men are programmed to be attracted to those parts. If you do a bit of reading regarding the “wiring” of the male sex, you will find that it takes very little suggestion at all for men to desire an attractive woman. And certainly far less than we think.
Also… I dissagree with your statement that women “allow themselves to be lusted after”.
After having lived until 20 without knowing the “visual problem of men” I dressed quite often in a way that some of you would find immodest. This does not mean that I, or my friends or sisters in Jesus that continue to dress this way ALLOW anyone to lust after them. The lust is in the man. Often time the woman does not know that she is being lusted after and its nowhere near her intent. Actually its not even within her universe of thinking to think in such lines…
I speak from my own experience and that of many here… you speak from yours. I just want people to know that not all women who wear a bikini does it to be sexy looking… rather they long to be pretty as always and at the beach they have learned that a bikini or bathing suit is the natural attire. a very catholic sister of mine resently bought a bikini. I told her the statements of some of the catholic women here… and she was like : “are you kidding me?”.
Call us naive… us who grew up secular, were not looking for sex but love and were unknowingly wearing swimclothes without knowing of the immense lust in some men.
You misunderstand me. Did you not read what I said about ignorance, and presuming the best? Out of charity, we must begin with the premise that these women do not realize what they are doing. Having grown up in a secular culture myself (on a beach, no less!) I am fully aware that this is not always the case. I did not always wear immodest clothing with pure intentions, and neither did my friends. But for the sake of discussion, and because the intention of the woman is really quite irrelevant to it anyway, I have granted every woman in a bathing suit the benefit of the doubt. There is no blame involved, but even in their ignorance, by clothing themselves in such a way, they are allowing the attention from men to their most intimate areas.
why not try to deal with the way people view someone instead of blaming that someone.
I have a feeling that Eve and Adam wanted the apple because they were told they were not allowed. Suddenly that apple was all they could see and they were drooling for it.
The same with men… you tell them something is forbidden, dirty and will arouse terrible lust… then they will internalise those feelings in themselves and may get some trouble that a secular man never had with a haunting sexuality.
Why not dedramatize the thing…
There is no drama invovled in this at all. But again, I urge you to read a good deal on the chemistry of men. They don’t simply desire the female form because they are told not to (indeed, our culture doesn’t tell them
not to at all – rather, it tells them
"go right ahead!") but because it is in their nature and the best interest of the human race to desire it. And not incidentally, a woman’s bared form
should be forbidden for men to gawk at by all standards of modesty and Christian virtue. If you disagree with
this, then there really is no point in further discussion here.
To Scapular kid… skin and hair is a bunch of cells if you want a naturalistic view.
This is my point of view… You all might not agree but its still been my experience and that of many around me.
…as is the general European feeling on the subject, but like everything else, it must be weighed against what we as Catholics know is true of respect for human dignity. We must take not merely a global, but a moral and historical perspective. A look into moral teaching and the history of women’s fashion is enough to make the “naturalist” viewpoint look not quite so “natural” any longer.
), but is there a point when you start sinning by over-indulging in staring a beautiful bodies say at the pool or beach (since we’re in the summer months)? My current moral “assessment” is that it would be only an occasion of sin. Not sure though. It’s especially hard for me being only 18 when we see other people’s bodies as very important in how we perceive our peers. Just wondering.
:doh2: