WKC and a new Hobby Horse
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
I went up to WKC for the day last Saturday (yes, I saw a couple of you there!). I would have loved to have gone for the whole weekend, but I had to get back to teach Sunday school the next morning.
Apart from the fact it was freezing, and I mean freezing - it even snowed - it was well and truly worth the trip up and back. I loved the tone of the day and the style of leadership from the front. There was obviously a clear goal to teach and encourage us as women, and not to entertain, which I really appreciated. A good example of this was that we got to hear each of the speaker's testimonies before they spoke to us, and they in themselves were hugely encouraging.
There was a lot in the day that challenged me. The three talks from Gen 1-3 by Alli Street, Claire Smith and Carmelina Read all helped me think about God's good design for me as a woman.
The talks were followed by a seminar by Melinda Tankard Reist on the sexualisation of young girls within our culture. This was probably the most confronting and challenging part of the day for me personally. The material she presented, which was based on her most recent book, 'Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls', was quite horrifying for me as a mum of young girls. I watched the material that Melinda Tankard Reist had collected (well, the stuff she could show publicly) and wanted to run from the room - and yet, I was so grateful that she opened my eyes to this growing issue. I felt quite convicted on two levels. Firstly, as a citizen, I should be doing more to complain about unacceptable products and advertising aimed at and involving young girls. And secondly, as a mum, I need to be even more vigilant and keep saying 'no' to certain toys, activities even when all the other parents seem to have different rules.
I really appreciated the fact that we got to listen to this seminar after such clear exposition of Gen 1-3 in the other talks. It was great to have our eyes opened to a particular issue that so clearly related to what we had just heard from the Bible.
I bought the book on the day (I've already read her other books Defiant Birth and Giving Sorrow Words and thought they were great so I didn't hesitate). I suspect this issue might become another of my hobby horses!
11 comments:
It was lovely to see you there! Melinda's talk also gave me an awful lot to think about. After it I felt scared for my daughter, yet at the same time also trusted God's sovereignty.
Yes, reading parts of this book and hearing Melinda speak has made be want to flee the country with my family. But, we'll have to deal with it some day.
The most difficult thing right now is that its so ubiquitous. I pulled over so as to not be driving behind a bus with an appalling ad on the back that J was looking at. Not always an option - pulling over! But I'm certainly more aware, and I can already see her staring at pictures around. Dear God, help us mums and dads!
And yes, another hobby horse for me too. Please share your ideas for teching and training and modelling and avoiding as you come up with them for the benefit of us all!
Yes, I want to keep the horror, but lose the panic!
I'd love to hear your thoughts as you come up with them as well.
I joined Women's Forum Australia after hearing her on Saturday and Sunday and have downloaded Senator Helen Polley's petition. Their newsletter has plenty of practical suggestions of action to take in each issue.
Good idea to join the group Juliette, and I'll check out those practical suggestions. It would be good to know what to do about the issue!
I didn't get to WKC this year, but have heard lots about this seminar.
Nicole, just a question, which toys would you say 'no' to, that other parents deem ok? I"m curious because I haven't really thought through the girl thing very much with 'E'.... obviously having had lots of time to think through what I deem ok for the boys, given I have so many of them!! If you don't want to tell me them here, could you fb email me?
Ruth.
Great question Ruth - I've been thinking about this all weekend!
There are some toys we haven't bought for her - eg, make up, nail polish, Bratz dolls - plus other dolls that are dressed immodestly in 'adult' style clothing (including many Barbie dolls).
We haven't encouraged some of the popular TV shows (eg. Hi 5) or book series (eg. some of the fairy - princess series), not always because we thought we should prohibit them, but because we didn't want to encourage an obsession with outward beauty and the "princess" paradigm.
We've found, too, that there are a lot of clothes for young girls in the mainstream shops that we wouldn't want to dress our girls in. (But I guess that's obvious!)
Mainly, our tendency has been to try and encourage other pursuits and better expressions of femininity.
Hope that makes sense!
That does, thanks Nicole. It's something I've been thinking about for 'E', but haven't really thought it through yet.
With my boys at the moment, I'm trying to find clothes that don't say 'hey I've got attitude' slogans - like 'I'm the boss' etc, and ones that aren't covered in snarly looking skulls etc. For the younger two there are more options, but for the older two it's actually quite hard, unfortunately.
But for 'E', I've got a lot to learn and think through. I value your wisdom on this topic, and would certainly love to read more of your thoughts and suggestions on the topic. Thanks.
I agree with you about boys clothes Ruth! There are a lot of older boys clothes I don't buy for Jacob. Someone gave him an 'I'm the boss' type t-shirt when he was a baby, and I couldn't bring myself to let him wear it.
What are your thoughts about toys for boys? Are there some that are off-limits?
Wow - great question... I'm not sure. I try to avoid too violent things, personally, but guns will be made out of lego regardless of whether we own toy ones or not... but then, at least there was some level of creativity in the making!
I'll have a think about what toys I've avoided for the boys and why and get back to you.
It's hard when the clothes are given, or the toys for that matter... 'E' was given a little baby bodysuit that was cute but said 'yummy' on it. AB and I didn't feel comfortable having her wear that - just not sending out an image we were happy with, so she didn't wear it. I don't put the boys in tops that I don't approve of, which was easier when they were little and I chose the clothes, but is proving a little more difficult as they are growing older, because they get hand me downs from other kids and go through the bags before I get a chance. Thankfully though I still get some power of veto.
Will think about the boy toys further, cause I'm sure there are ones that we avoid, but I can't put my finger on why and how I came to that conclusion.
Ruth
So glad you enjoyed it Nicole.
Lots of the committee's hard work paid off then, for many people.
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