The Australian Open Tennis Tournament made the news recently
when an interviewer asked Eugenie Bouchard to twirl to show off her outfit. Although I missed that bit of “news,”
it came to my attention later through a post by Matt Reagan on the Desiring God blog. Reagan’s post drew quite a bit of
negative attention on their Facebook feed as being sexist in itself, along with
not making a great deal of sense. I wanted to make a couple comments on his
post, but then to look at what Scripture has to say.
Reagan implies that twirling is an activity pursued by
little girls, but not little boys. Evidently he hasn’t spent a lot of time
around little boys. Perhaps his emphasis was intended to refer to girls showing
off their dresses, but I’ve known plenty of little girls who won’t wear dresses.
He asks, “Why are Eugenie and Serena wearing the outfits in the first place?
Are they not intentionally demonstrating their feminine beauty to the world?” I
would counter that they are wearing those outfits because that is the standard
for their sport, although there is some variation within the WTA. Women in the
WNBA aren’t wearing little skirts and being asked to twirl for the cameras.
Personally, I think Eugenie responded graciously to an idiotic request. I dare
someone to ask a UFC fighter to twirl for her fans!
Both the original interview and the blog post serve to
illustrate a problem we have created with gender issues in this country. Apparel
and behavior are often linked to gender in ways that are inconsistent and nonsensical.
When children (or even adults) measure themselves by this arbitrary standard,
they may feel there is something lacking and therefore believe they are in the
wrong body. I’m not suggesting little boys should be allowed to wear dresses,
but we do need to take a careful look at what our standards for femininity and
masculinity are and where they come from.
There are a few references to apparel in Scripture. Perhaps
most familiar is Peter’s appeal to wives in 1 Peter 3:3-4, “Do not let your
adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry,
or the clothing you wear—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the
heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s
sight is very precious” (ESV; see also 1 Timothy 2:9-10). Alongside that is
God’s statement to Samuel “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the
outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7b). Jesus
had some pretty harsh words to say about the Pharisees concerns for appearance:
“They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries
broad and their fringes long… Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within
are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:5, 27).
God is far more concerned with the state of our hearts than
the style of our clothes. Some of the most beautiful people are those who are
outwardly marred or crippled, but their love of God shines through. Jesus
Himself “had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that
we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2).
I’ve searched on multiple occasions for Scriptural
instructions that apply specifically to women aside from those related to
spouse or children, and the Bible just doesn’t say much. The Proverbs 31
description is about the extent of it, and there is very little there that
could not also be applied to men. Conducting business and the affairs of the
household with diligence and integrity are the duties of every person. Once
again verse 30 makes it a matter of the heart: “Charm is deceitful and beauty
is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Certainly there are
plenty of points where debate could be raised, such as women teaching in the
church (1 Timothy 2:12) or hair length for men and women (1 Corinthians
11:14-15), but those are a topic for some other blog.
I come to a couple conclusions: 1) Both men and women want
to be recognized primarily for their accomplishments, not their apparel; for
their deportment, not their dress. 2) God honors those whose hearts seek after
Him regardless of their outward circumstances. God found David to be “a man
after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). We get into dangerous territory when we
create our own standards that have nothing to do with God’s law— “This people
honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they
worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:8-9).
Perhaps if we truly chase after God’s heart, we can learn to
let go of all the secondary issues and fulfill Paul’s admonition in Romans 12:9-10:
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one
another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” What
better way is there to honor someone than by recognizing the desire of their
heart above all else?
--Also check out my friend Rebecca Chasteen’s blog post on a
similar topic: https://thesteadyblog.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/and-then-you-remember-shes-not-you-and-youre-not-dying-on-that-hill/
