In case you didn't know, this is an easy one.
What, really, is it that Christianity does to women of faith? Truly, on the one hand, it teaches women about "unconditional love", for that is what God gives us. For Protestants, at least. This is a trait that Christian woman value, perhaps more highly that any other, simply because of how the faith--and women--are structured. So they strive to emulate that quality, learn to love one another unconditionally. The faith encourages people, women especially, to learn to open their hearts completely.
I have no problem with that. I believe that it's a quality that all people should offer one another.
The problem comes when it is put into practice.
You see, churches by their nature offer fellowship to lonely people. Most Christian singles see churches as the best place to meet other singles, to have a chance to meet a life partner. This quickly becomes circular reasoning, so I don't think that I'm going to risk getting lost in it.
So, while Christian women may go to a church, or a Christian singles group looking for a partner, those same beliefs also disarm them from part of their femininity. After all, in a conservative Christian church, a woman isn't supposed to be remotely "sexy". So any woman with a healthy libido is supposed to simply hide it, suppress and repress her natural inclinations. Be a good girl.
Don't you dare step a foot into Victoria's Secret.
Bizarre, because our sexuality is part of us, something that God Himself gave to us.
As I mentioned, churches are great for fellowship, and many of these Christian women, who generally outnumber men, end up spending a great deal of time together. I can't claim to understand the loneliness of a woman, her desire for closeness. I can barely begin to describe the phenomena adequately. Yet when open hearted, unconditionally loving Christian women start spending a lot of time together, confiding in one another, sometimes things happen.
I know. I've spoken with more than one person who has had a ministry with women who struggle with what some refer to as "lesbian issues".
I don't think that this is quite apt. It might be more appropriate to say that these women are struggling on the edge of bisexuality, due to a lack of active interest from men. Somehow, all of that wonderful, open love that is opened within their hearts must be expressed, and emotional (let alone physical) intimacy is a temptation.
Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean that your libido turns off.
Hey, I admit that I am writing this as an outsider. Mainly, as a guy.
Though I have to admit to having heard stories. Just because, as mentioned elsewhere, I listen well.
Yet I have to admit being startled one day, when I was looking at Ty Teenie Beenies with a friend. 'Jean' was in her late thirties, athletic and active, but plain. A strong Christian, she didn't wear makeup, jewelry or perfume, and in years no one had known her to mention a boyfriend, let alone having a date. Some people considered her asexual, yet some also quietly mused about her female housemate. She was strongly a woman of faith, and a good friend described her as "sheltered, innocent and naive".
We were examining one particular model, Spinner the Spider, and I commented on the rich colors. "Wow, those are great colors".
"Yes, but who would I wear it for?"
Startled, no shocked, I glanced over at her, but she was focused completely on the plush creature in her hands. Obviously while I was seeing the rich blend of orange-gold and black, she was seeing the tiger-stripe pattern. And I could hear the simple frustration in her voice. Yet who would have ever thought that Jean would have envisioned herself in a sexy tiger-stripe something or other?
At least to me, tiger-stripes are blatantly sexual.
Hardly...naive.
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