Dehumanizing Women

Spiritual Lessons 

Guest writer Rebecca Robinson shares with us the importance of how women ought to be treated.

Dehumanizing Women 

Okay friends, hang in there with me. This is important.

The sexual objectification of women is widely normalized and widely embraced, not only by porn addicts and womanizers, but by the many evangelical Christians who grew up believing that hemlines mattered more than personal holiness.
But sexual objectification isn't the only kind that exists. (Yay, Becky, tell us more.)
Men who treat women like they are replaceable, interchangeable role-fillers who do not exist as individuals but as props to be used aren't less guilty of objectifying them. When you go on a hunt for a woman- any woman will do- because you desperately want someone, anyone, to touch and talk at and make you appear a certain way, you are not loving that woman. If a man is constantly pursuing women and treating each one of them like Ryan Gosling treats "Bianca" in Lars and the Real Girl, then he has a serious problem that needs seriously to be addressed.

The bottom line is this: don't treat women (or anyone) like they are things to be possessed rather than people to be loved. It is one of the ugliest ways you can devalue and dehumanize God's image bearers, and it will cause you to miss out on the most beautiful gift this side of Heaven, which is the incredible and mysterious gift of loving and sacrificial relationships between people.

I know a lot of you are sick of hearing about this, but please understand that this issue is inextricably knotted with child sacrifice, with the destruction of families, with adultery, with sex slavery, and the decay of our culture as a whole. This matters so, so much, especially since this treatment of women is often much easier for men to get away with within the profession of faith in Christ.

Women: Find your peace in Christ, not man. This will help you be protected from the flattering tongue of a men who see you as a means to an end rather than a brilliantly unique individual worth caring for, and give the discernment to see the difference.
Men: Be vigilantly aware of this reality and protect and and advocate for the women around you.

I'm sorry to keep beating this drum, I know it gets to sounding trite after a while. But this is at the center of everything we fight against, and it is one of those pernicious evils that is easily overlooked and minimized for the sake of keeping people comfortable.