Of course, many would find this description jarring: sad? Who's sad? I'm sure millions of Americans greet the arrival of this publication with glee. A couple Februarys ago I remember a sketch on Letterman in which he chased the magazine delivery truck down the road, giddy to get his hands on the swimsuit issue ASAP.
But I say "sad" because this is the time when it's most vividly clear and "in your face" before the world that profit-driven people exploit sexual longings to increase their revenue. More than that, this is the moment when it's most obvious that sexually charged photos are finding a home in (what has been considered) mainstream media and not just in the shadowy world of adult book stores.
A news feature the other day showed a jet airliner with a huge image of a swimsuit model's body painted on the plane. It's pretty obvious there are a lot of people deeply invested in SI and CNN and various sports franchises and ad campaigns (etc.) who're working feverishly to get us all to accept the idea that gazing at near-nude swimsuit girls should be considered just one more form of innocent visual entertainment--just a little eye candy, nothing more...
Of course, among those profit-driven souls are the models who take their clothes off for SI. This is the saddest part of all: young women taught to separate themselves from their bodies, and to sell the sight of their flesh for visual consumption. I'm sure the pressure on these young women is tremendous--to be chosen for the SI swimsuit cover must be a mark of spectacular success in one's modeling career, a doorway to lucrative opportunities to be stared at yet more in the future. And I suspect many beautiful young women would find a certain comfort and ego boost in being the focus of hungry eyes--to be wanted, to be special (would they add, "to be loved"?).
TV morning show hosts this week were snickering about the infamous magazine in their "news" reports. The release of the swimsuit issue was given top story status alongside the latest on Australia's wild fires and President Obama's economic bailout plans. What's wrong with this picture?
Well, that's the world we live in. It makes me sad.
Some may think I'm "prudish" or that I don't want red-blooded men to have a little fun. The truth is, I want them to have the fullest, enduring satisfaction God has to give, a joy far deeper than the thrill of gawking at swimsuit beauties. I speak not only of the God-intended delights of sexual fulfillment within marriage, but ultimately of eternal joy in the company of the all-glorious, all-satisfying Christ.
The sad side of February reminds me that, as C. S. Lewis put it in "The Weight of Glory," we are far too easily pleased: "Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea."
May the Lord, in his powerful grace, grant that many--millions--would look past the eye candy this February and instead find true joy in the worship of Christ!
"One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple."
(Psalm 27:4, ESV)
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