Girls Gone Bad?

I teach at a middle school. When I look around it breaks my heart at what I see. Young teenage girls coming to school dress like they are going to the bars. Tight, short, skimpy, sexy, revealing are all words that describe what they wear. Yes we have a strict dress code and yes most of these kids come from good families. My first reaction is to roll my eyes and say, "Are you kidding me? What are you thinking?" Then I get mad at the parents. "How can you be so checked out? Don't give me that's what is in or it is hard to find longer stuff. What do you think that dress says to teenage boys?" I get so frustrated because I also talk to the guys. YES they are looking. And yes they are thinking sexual things about YOUR daughter. Many of them said that they are often distracted in class because of what some of the girls are wearing. "Mrs. Lee it is hard to concentrate on WWII when you all you see is butts and boobs. They put it on display. The shorts are very short and the shirts are very tight." (Exact quote)

It breaks my heart because so many parents and students consider all this harmless. "Kids will be kids. My daughter can't help what boys think. She is a good girl how she dresses shouldn't matter. It is what's inside that count." HHMM if it looks like a duck, and kind of acts like a duck..won't it be considered a duck?

Do they know that pornography is ravaging families and the lives of teenagers? Some start as young as 10 years old. Marriages are falling apart. People are going bankrupt, losing their jobs, and living in constant guilt and shame because of it.

• 89% of porn is created in the U.S.
• 260 new porn sites go online daily!!!!!

No, dressing different isn't going to solve the problem. But I for one will tell my daughter that if she sees a guy in a police uniform she expects it to be a police officer. So if she dresses provocatively people will expect her to be just that. Also, her dad will show her that she is loved and valued as a person through his eyes. She doesn't have to look for love in a guy because her dad is checked out and not paying attention. I will tell her, "No! I love her too much for her to wear that." I will fight, hard, against "what everyone else is doing" and my need to be my daughter's friend. Most importantly, I will tell her over and over again that she is the daughter of a mighty, mighty king. He holds her identity not her friends or culture.

So instead of getting upset at the girls at my school, I have decided to....pray. Pray that they will not fall into the cycle of gaining attention through their bodies. That they will learn that they have so much to offer that has nothing to do with what that cute guy thinks. That someone (hopefully their parents) will fight for them, their self-worth, self-esteem by saying, "No, honey. I love you too  much for you wear that, even if everybody else is doing it. You are worth so much more!"

 ^"Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity." 1 Timothy 4:12