Your
shorts are too short.
Your
dress is too short.
That
blouse is too revealing.
That
dress is inappropriate.
You
have a two-piece bathing suit? Sinner.
Along with wincing stares and stare downs. Ugh.
So, I’ve been pulled over by the fashion police one
too many times, and with each prudish, judgmental, and sometimes, downright
offensive comment, I’ve managed to bounce back and get on with my life just
fine. As a woman on the receiving end of this, I do wonder do some people not
have anything better to do than to be worried about what I’m wearing? That said,
I’m taking a stand for all woman kind, and especially any and all Christian women
who’ve ever found themselves in a similar situation. I will be their voice. I like
clothes. I also love looking nice, and I believe fashion is a great way to
express one’s self. As a believer, I do have boundaries but the thing is, being
criticized for how I dress and worst of all, judged, is unsettling at times.
First of all, I’m tall, so most of my shorts and
dresses may appear to be short because of my height. Plus, if you factor in my
curves and the fact that I have a nice derrière along with a model-like
physique, then of course my clothes fit differently. I’m also a beach girl, so
most of my blouses are cute and tank toppy. And as far as wearing a two-piece
bathing suit goes, I could care less what anyone thinks about that. It’s not a
sin, and I’m not a sinner for wearing one, and owning a bunch of them.
I believe that Christian women can be sexy, and unapologetic
about it. Christian women can totally embody, possess, and have sex-appeal, and
shouldn’t be ashamed of that. I know sexuality and things like sex-appeal are subject
matters that the church and the religious shun, but you can still be saved, slay all day, and should not be shamed for that. Yes, wisdom is the principal
thing (Proverbs 4:7) but being a believer that takes jabs at another believer, because
of what the other is wearing is wrong. I could literally walk around in a paper
bag and still turn heads. Excuse me for being attractive lol, but since when
did being an attractive Christian woman become a bad thing? I don’t think God
loves me any less than a woman that’s fully covered. I’m still a believer. When
I first started experiencing this, I’d feel so ashamed. Now, I simply laugh,
and shake it off.
I can remember two public, Christian figures that
faced similar judgment from the church when they stepped out in outfits that
were deemed sexy. The first was
Meagan Good (who’s literally so gorgeous, she can make almost anything look
good) who wore a blue, plunging dress to the BET awards one year, and got
massive amounts of shade thrown at her. And the other was gospel singer, Erica
Campbell, who was under fire for wearing a beautiful, figure hugging white
dress on her album cover, which set off a bunch of believers who felt her
outfit was ungodly. Crazy as it
sounds, this kind of stuff happens all the time.
I could shrink, put myself in a box or wear sweat
pants to the beach lol, but I’m not going to do any of that. If someone has a
problem with the way I dress, stay upset, I guess. I’m still a Christian, and
my attire doesn’t negate that.