Rob Colquhoun

Analysing the commercialisation of the female body 

What must veil wearing Muslims think of the commercialisation of the female body in Western society? The use of the female body for sales, advertising and entertainment must surely reaffirm their views on the moral decadence of the West. Moreover, what are the effects of the use of the female body as a financial instrument for society?

Sexually explicit photographs are now commonplace in the majority of tabloids and magazines, portraying females as a nice piece of flesh to be indulged in every now and then. The cult of beauty is embedded into our culture to the extent that surgical operations are now the ultimate must have accessory for affluent teenagers. But the message of this culture leaves women to be used merely as objects for male gratification. The over-sexualisation of society has left profoundly negative consequences for our society.

Anorexia and bulimia are two examples of degrading mental health problems that some women suffer due to the cult of feminine beauty. Some women are led to self mutilation and harm as they hate their own bodies and consequently hate themselves. Men are encouraged into forms of sexual disorder- resulting in the increase of rapes, assaults, extra marital affairs and the destruction of family life.

The use of females as objects (implicitly encouraged by the media) also suggests that when a woman passes her sell by date she can be thrown away or the latest upgrade can be bought/enticed/taken out for dates. The mental pornography that mainstream media encourages men to find an alternative when wives start sagging. Many Hollywood actresses rightfully complain of the chronic ageism that they suffer from the cult of the flesh. An emerging philosophy of transhumanism seeks to enhance female beauty by making women less human- by the encouragement of improvements ranging from contraceptive implants to silicone valleys.

The use of the female body for profit has consequences for the whole sisterhood of humanity. Men are likely to treat all women in their lives the same way as they have been taught in the strip club or by page 3- as a piece of eye candy for carnal contentment. Looking at women as pieces of juicy flesh is degrading – because it denies the human dignity inherent in women and denies the opportunity for loving relationships. An obsession on the physical aspects of women leads to the relegation of an appreciation of their mental and spiritual attributes.

Cultural modesty in dress rather than bikinis, mini skirts and cleavage would help to readdress the problem that if women dress like prostitutes, it’s not really surprising that they get treated like them too! I take my hat off to any Muslim who wears a veil to demonstrate that she is against the culture of lust. The very low teenage pregnancy rate among young Muslims contrasts radically with the total of nearly 200,000 abortions in Britain performed each year.

Ever seen a foreign exchange located in a cemetery? What’s the rate of exchange for riches on earth for riches in the next life? The Egyptians held that you took one’s possessions with you to the next life and Pharaohs were adorned in their Pyramids with many possessions to help them in the next world. But then again, they did worship cats too.

I have always thought that it must be discomforting for those who have spent a vast majority of their hours awake accumulating wealth and pleasure to read the New Testament account of the Rich man and Lazarus or the Rich young man. But it appears, many people who are rich are oblivious to the fact- their friends are far richer besides, and there’s that new Land Rover they are saving for, which afterwards they’ll be poor again.

Jesus assures us not to accumulate wealth where robbers will steal and rust will attack but to store up our wealth where no thief can raid- that is building up the Kingdom of God. This task has already started on earth- to help the poor, visit the sick and imprisoned, feed the hungry and give worship to God through our bodies as living sacrifices. The universal destination of material goods ensures us that (scientists and believers agree) all products end up in the dustbin anyway. Therefore, rather than adhering to rampant consumerism, materialism and accumulation we should invest in serving God and helping our neighbour and by the grace of God be given a metaphysical pension surpassing all imagination.

Riches are a great bedfellow of atheism because they both agree in the ‘here and now’ principle and end of life at death. But the worst thing about atheism is if it is actually true! Only a tragic philosophy of nihilism can be concluded if it was true. The fool says there is no God in his heart. Pascal’s wager is the great proof of this. The opportunity to believe brings in the only hope of redemption.

Above all we should be willing to use every action, thought and measure to help bring in love, hope, truth and goodness into this world rather than use every moment to hoard ourselves with belongings.

Religious illiteracy and spiritual poverty

Secularism has bred a couple of generations where a substantial number have not fully grasped a correct understanding of Christian faith. This has left many with not only religious illiteracy but also spiritual poverty. An understanding of faith, however basic, is needed to fully grasp its spiritual content. In Britain we should be advocating for more Catechesis and teaching to bridge the chasm between religious interest and religious knowledge to help and instruct the faithful, to contribute to productive dialogue, to encourage conversion and help build up the Christian community. Spiritual poverty is in part a by product of the lack of religious education- an array of religious assumptions are widely held by many in society from secular myths that have developed in the last 50 years along materialist, pseudo-logical and cynical lines. Sexuality, Church history and practice have been misunderstood and criticized from a lack of teaching and due to common misconceptions. We now need Christian zeal and passion to subjugate the religious apathy in society and to become fishers of men ready to build up the Kingdom of God. Ignorance, misinformation and prejudice are inconveniences to be done away with to help people arrive and nurture faith. A close examination of the Church and its teachings reveal a religion based on love, truth, justice, faith, hope and peace- the highest ideals of humanity. These values when properly understood build up spiritual wealth and help to promote harmony in society. Lives based on such Christian virtues are exemplary and help to construct well functioning, honest communities.

Man and his interaction with God.

Man’s projection of self onto God and the anthropomorphic understanding of God.

In prayer man tries to come into contact and communication with God. Through thanksgiving, intercession and praise man build an intimate and sincere relationship with God. Our human minds struggle to grasp the divine nature in all its implications and meaning in fullness. This is because the divine nature and will is revolutionary to our human minds. As man thinks like man, he does not have the full capacity to think like God, because man is not God. However as Christians we are called to be partakers in the divine nature, to imitate Christ and to live under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we can come to live as upright and holy lives as possible that give fully glory to God.

It is a classic mistake to project one’s own image onto God or to claim one’s own desires are that of the divine will. A fundamental error any relationship is to put oneself first before the other in an assertion of self. Pride is a human weakness – which caused the fall and the reliance on self which paralyses relationships and is full of error. As humans we are biased in terms of our viewpoint- biased through sinfulness and selfishness, as we can only see in a mirror dimly the full scope of reality. Our faith can as a proper relationship with God learn to see clearer and clearer God’s will for our lives and how to lead a closer relationship with Christ. God does not need a consultancy service in order to advise him on issues, rather he founded the Church to help men attain salvation and to be obedient to his will.

Jesus Christ as fully God and fully man, the redeemer of mankind who intercedes for mankind to the father. Rather than condemn man for sinfulness, God entered into time born of a woman 2,000 years ago in order to redeem man and to help him reach everlasting life. There is a danger of asserting the human nature of Christ while undermining his divine nature, as the Arian heresy did. The danger of a fully anthropomorphic understanding of God is that it means God would only be man, when in reality he took on flesh in order to redeem all of mankind’s sins. Some criticise the Church because they see that it is attributing fully human form to God. The Church has great experience in what it means to be fully human because Jesus has revealed to us how to behave so. Christianity is the only religion as revolutionary to teach that God could come to such an intimate level with man. This is as the fullness of God was please to dwell in Christ who was the image of the invisible God (Col 1:12-20). So in our prayers, meditations and intercessions let us listen to God rather than presume with the tomfoolery of mankind’s foolishness.

Recently I was helping at a cricket match when the organiser asked me to get some glasses out of her Mercedes convertible. I forgot to hand back her keys to the car for about another 30 minutes after returning. When I eventually returned the keys, the woman put her hand to her heart and sighed an enormous relief, before she caressed the keys and put them back in her pocket. It was as if she had an intimate, loving relationship with her car.  At this point I realised that she subscribed to one of the heresies of our age- a materialistic outlook.

While few are happy to openly advocate and embrace a full understanding of materialism, many are delighted to let this philosophy gradually dominate their whole lives. It states that worldly concerns and possessions constitute the greatest good in life. When you realise how deeply this phenomena pervades society- from the whole area of sales to plastic surgery, money to relationships- you realise how dangerous the thinking can become.

Ultimately the flaw of the materialistic vision of the world is that if it is relentlessly pursued, it denigrates relationships, a correct view of humanity and the soul. People can be as deluded as Don Quixote if they actually honestly believe that physical matter is the only reality in that everything can be explained. In practice it means that the human person is no different from a robot- because they’re both just matter! 

Later into the match, my friend jokingly suggested that he might dump his girlfriend if she got too saggy or fat. Although he was only joking, there was probably enough seriousness in his voice to keep his girlfriend puffing on a treadmill 3 times a week just so she didn’t enter this category of disgusting outcasts just yet. The challenge for women to be both physically flawless and constantly sexually available is just another manifestation of materialism- a philosophy that never ends in happiness.

Due to this thinking, there are many skin deep relationships that are based predominantly on physical beauty, or rather have their roots based in men’s pornographic fantasies (as 40% of men have some interaction with internet pornography every year). Just to back up my theory- a famous cricketer at the event had decided to bring along a female escort 20 years his junior.

But the heart of the driving force of this flawed ideology is sales. This is an activity predominantly concerned with selling things to people who do not want them. The whole orientation of the salesman’s job is to trick you into thinking you really needed that new multi feature microwave- otherwise life would not be worth living. This thinking then further adjusts one’s mind and heart around earthly riches at the expense of life, love and human relationships. Desperate housewives often turn to a bit of retail therapy when they realise that their husbands don’t really love them anymore.

The fallacy of the investment in that second house, luxury holiday or facelift is that ultimately they are investments in belongings that can only rust with time, leaving the investor left with nothing, apart from the relief of not being the richest man in the graveyard. The irony of these investments is that by attempting to own many possessions, the possessor is possessed himself by his own possessions! With 20% of the world’s population living in poverty, there are far better investments to be made. To be obsessed with material goods is to lose sight of the dignity of humanity and to guarantee you live in spiritual poverty.