the longest journey begins with a single step

My Thoughts…

Just recently, I saw on the news that the most famous “men’s magazine” in the face of the planet reached the Philippines. As a Christian… as a woman… as a feminist… I can’t help to react violently on this. The leading men’s magazine (FHM) in the country has the largest circulation which is 67%. (That is according to Summit’s website). Surely Playboy will thump that vast circulation. And that can’t be good. I’m not rooting for FHM, just to clarify. It’s disturbing enough to have that kind of magazine in a (only) Christian nation in Asia. Then, Playboy enters the scene… the more explicit, more graphic magazine that will capture the men’s attention and wallets!

First of all, these kinds of magazine don’t care who purchases and reads their magazine. They don’t care if the readers are adults or minors. They don’t care about the possibility that they can pollute innocent minds. All they care about that their profits.

They distort women’s image. They present women as toys. Such things insinuate that women are mere objects of desire. They portray women as a piece of meat. They give men the wrong notion that women are to be fantasized not respected; be used instead of loved. They exploit women! They mislead women in the wrong thinking hat it’s pleasurable to be fantasized by men… that it’s good to be a sex object… They inculcate to women’s mind that they are created to fulfill men’s fantasies! Talk about deceit!

I’m well aware of that these women aren’t forced to do this; and that what makes it more disheartening. It is sometimes understandable why some men disrespect women (It is not excusable just understandable, ok?!). How can a woman expect men to respect her if she herself doesn’t respect own self? Clichéd, but true: Respect is something earned.

I just don’t understand why a woman would use her body. A woman shouldn’t capitalize on her body; instead she should have respect for herself, cultivate her intelligence and talent, improve herself, and know her worth.