As a child, I was taught that a woman’s body is honourable, sacred and should always be respected. As a man, husband and father, I still hold strong to this teaching and have passed it on to my daughters and students.
Over the last ten years, I have recognized that more and more females seem to wear less and less clothing in public, most of which is very provocative, seductive and enticing. These days we are seeing children, teenagers, young adults, older adults and even the over 50s participating in this distasteful practice.
As a teacher, it has been quite challenging trying to teach my students about modesty and decency when society is quickly redefining what these things mean. Some students tell me I am outdated and I need to “get wid the flow”. Many may not see this as a problem, but I see it as a threat to what little is left of our national morality, decency and ethical standards.
The three hardest things on this earth to control or master are your appetite (stomach), your tongue and your sex drive. We are slowly losing the “stomach” battle as Barbados is ranked in the top 20 fattest countries in the world. We are slowly losing the battle of the tongue as many of our citizens use their mouths as weapons to curse and degrade others and it seems like we are losing the sex drive battle as more and more people are adulterous, have fun friends and numerous casual sex partners.
Men and women were created differently. Men are stimulated more quickly by what they see while women generally by what they hear. Each day as I travel around this country I am constantly surrounded by breast, leg and thigh as if I was working at a fast-food restaurant. As a male, I am turned on by what I see but as a man I am quickly turned off.Â
Many men like to view all the flesh being displayed but don’t want to own it. I was sitting on a block chatting with some fellas a while back and one of them said to me: “Corey, in a few years I am going to settle down and marry a clean, decent Christian girl.” I asked him what was wrong with the girls he was dealing with. He responded: “None uh dem cuh neva be my personal girl; furthermore, my personal girl can’t leff home dress so.”
I have observed that sexually degrading and distasteful comments generally accompany seductively dressed females. I don’t know if I should say men have become very “disrespectful” in their comments to women or if women have become very disrespectful to men in the way they dress.
I have questioned a few females as to why they wear this type of clothing and I generally get two answers: this is what the stores selling and this is the style that wearing. As sad as this response is, it is true.
I find it generally frustrating and depressing each time I go to town to shop for my wife. Disappointingly, almost every single store I visit sells the same things, most of which are very revealing. This is a reason why I choose to shop overseas or on the Internet – at least I have some variety.
I find it quite amazing that there are things in our possession that we value so much that we would not show or share with the public, yet some women show and share their bodies with every Tom, Dick and Harry.
Where purpose is unknown, abuse is inevitable. As a man’s body is a temple and is a gift to his wife, the purpose of a woman’s body is also to be a temple and a gift to her husband for him to treasure and honour.
• Corey Worrell is a former Commonwealth Youth Ambassador.
