Pastor Issues An Apology For Making Girls Wear One-Piece Swimsuits

[Justanatheist]

Sexualization of children and young teens has become an industry....

Where do young girls get the idea that dressing and acting in a sexually provocative fashion is OK?
That it has no negative consequences.
Doesn't the teen pregnancy rate show us that something is wrong with the way kids are taught about sex?


Good luck with teaching teens manners. And since when do we live in a world who hold minors to any kind of account? They know you can't touch them....but are they free then to touch each other? If you want to describe something imbecilic, then there it is.
They have all the rights and no responsibility, and these days are often raised by parents who don't give a damn what their kids are doing....

If the "Pastor" in this case was about teaching or promoting Christian values to these girls, as is his job, then an apology like that was irresponsible. Making people accountable works both ways.....both boys and girls have to be accountable for their behavior......and it understands that immaturity gives kids no rights to sexual activity if they cannot be held accountable for the outcome....be it STD's or pregnancy.

You could always look at the facts.

The answer lies in the Judeo-Christian morality that dominates this country. Further examination of the ways in which sex education and religiosity vary across the United States reveals a link between the two and the impact this has on what’s taught in the classroom.
Here’s a fact: in no state where at least 45 percent of people identify as very religious is the teen birth rate below twenty-five births per 1,000 girls. We’re talking about Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas—otherwise known as the Bible Belt. Correlation is not causation, and there are certainly many factors that contribute to teen birth rates, but it seems clear that deep religiosity does not provide an outstanding starting point for states hoping to address unplanned teen pregnancies.
Linking Religion and Teen Pregnancy: There's a Map for That - TheHumanist.com

As usual proper education is the key as survey after survey shows, not a pastor with his outdated morals.

 

[Father Heathen]

Sexualization of children and young teens has become an industry....

Where do young girls get the idea that dressing and acting in a sexually provocative fashion is OK?
That it has no negative consequences.
Doesn't the teen pregnancy rate show us that something is wrong with the way kids are taught about sex?

Of course sexualizing children is wrong, but what does this have to do with swimsuits? There isn't anything inherently "sexually provocative" about the human body or swimming. The problem is with irrational cultural attitudes taking something natural and arbitrarily making it taboo. And the problem is that children aren't taught enough about sex. Why is it that states with the highest rates of teen pregnancy tend to be those with inadequate sex ed? Also, countries with more open and relaxed attitudes toward sex don't have these teen pregnancy problems. Why is that?

Good luck with teaching teens manners. And since when do we live in a world who hold minors to any kind of account? They know you can't touch them....but are they free then to touch each other? If you want to describe something imbecilic, then there it is.

Don't project the church's failures upon the rest of the world. If your approach doesn't work, consider that your perceptions and preconceptions are probably wrong.

They have all the rights and no responsibility, and these days are often raised by parents who don't give a damn what their kids are doing....

So we should stuff all females into burkas because some parents are incompetent?

If the "Pastor" in this case was about teaching or promoting Christian values to these girls, as is his job, then an apology like that was irresponsible.

It's adorable how you suggest that he isn't a real pastor or even a real Christian merely because his words don't gel with your squeamish hang-ups.

Making people accountable works both ways.....both boys and girls have to be accountable for their behavior......and it understands that immaturity gives kids no rights to sexual activity if they cannot be held accountable for the outcome....be it STD's or pregnancy.

Of course boys and girls should be held accountable for their own behavior, but how is *swimming* a sexual activity?

 

[rrobs]

To expect teenage girls in bikinis not to arouse teenage boys is a classic case of wishful thinking IMO.)

For sure! I think it is actually beyond wishful thinking. It's asking us to ignore science, the god of the secular world.

Let's all believe in evolution because science says so, but we must ignore reproduction facilities taught by the same science. Eroticism and sexual arousal is a very real thing. It is considered abnormal for a male not to get aroused by a female. Otherwise, the human race would have ended with Adam and Eve.

Having said that, I don't think wearing a bikini is necessarily a problem. Of course bikinis, like one piece suits, come in a variety of sizes and styles. When it gets to the style of thongs, I think it unreasonable to think a 16 year old healthy boy should not get aroused. To be sure, he shouldn't act on that arousal (unless consensual of course), but it ignores science to think he shouldn't even get aroused.

 

[Sand Dancer]

I agree, its lacking, but better a step in the right direction than being stuck in the mud. Maybe in a few years, if he keeps an open mind, he'll understand why it wasn't enough for some people.



Seriously... As a teenaged girl, I probably would have been stealing looks at the boys(if any of them were worth looking at). Why is the sexuality of teenaged boys viewed as problematic, but that of teenaged girls swept under the rug?

During part of my youth, my best friend was a boy, and an attractive one at that. He got hit on all the time, and it drove him nuts. No one takes a boy getting too much unwanted female attention seriously, but if its flopped, a lot of concern goes out.

Historically, females were often expected to be asexual. I am not sure why that view has been carried into present day.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

Historically, females were often expected to be asexual. I am not sure why that view has been carried into present day.

It's a good question, one that may not exactly have a straightforward answer...........

I'm in the process of transitioning. The feminizing hormones give you better control over your sex drive, I think. On the other hand, I have to be much less outward with things too, if I'm presenting as a woman, or risk being called promiscuous which was never a problem I faced as a man.

 

[SkepticThinker]

Sexualization of children and young teens has become an industry....

Where do young girls get the idea that dressing and acting in a sexually provocative fashion is OK?
That it has no negative consequences.

What negative consequences? That a pastor might want to rape them? That's not a consequence of a girl wearing a revealing bathing suit. That's a consequence of boys/men not being taught that girls/women are pieces of meat, being displayed for their pleasure and enjoyment. Or that girls are dressing this way for the sole purpose of attracting men.

You know, about two hundred years ago we would be talking about how those crazy teenagers just can't keep their ankles and wrists covered and how dare they dangle such sexual parts in front of men without expecting to be raped or something.

I don't love kids beauty pageants at all. In fact, I think they're terrible. But they don't exist for the purpose of little girls attracting and seducing men. This attitude sucks and we need to discard it already.

I was raped many years ago. You know what I was wearing? A giant sweatshirt and sweatpants. I guess even that was too tempting for the guy.

Doesn't the teen pregnancy rate show us that something is wrong with the way kids are taught about sex?

A high teen pregnancy rate is usually the result of poor sexual education in schools and lack of access to sexual health resources. Turns out "abstinence only" sexual health education is more harmful than helpful.

Good luck with teaching teens manners. And since when do we live in a world who hold minors to any kind of account? They know you can't touch them....but are they free then to touch each other? If you want to describe something imbecilic, then there it is.

Well, maybe you've just got the wrong attitude. I had manners when I was a teenager. I also had a good mother who taught them to me. She "held me to account" many times during my teenage years. Let's not pretend teenagers are wild, rabid animals or something.

They have all the rights and no responsibility, and these days are often raised by parents who don't give a damn what their kids are doing....

Ah, the "good old days" argument that people have probably been making since the beginning of time.

If the "Pastor" in this case was about teaching or promoting Christian values to these girls, as is his job, then an apology like that was irresponsible. Making people accountable works both ways.....both boys and girls have to be accountable for their behavior......and it understands that immaturity gives kids no rights to sexual activity if they cannot be held accountable for the outcome....be it STD's or pregnancy.

I think it was irresponsible (and disgusting) of the pastor to sexualize those young girls in the way he did. It's on him, not anybody else. I'm tired of this crap. Wearing a bathing suit to go swimming isn't an invitation to be ogled or raped or anything like it. Hey, maybe let's teach that to the boys instead!

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Pastor Issues An Apology For Making Girls Wear One-Piece Swimsuits, And His Honest Letter Goes Viral

How stupid to see a pastor apologize for requiring girls to dress modestly at church events (he could've gone even more modest than that, as well, so the complaints are rather silly). I expect them to have rules for modesty. Shoot, the Vatican does for visitors.

 

[metis]

Ever hear of "desensitization"? Now, apply that to swimsuits-- or maybe not wearing swimsuits.

 

[JustGeorge]

Shoot, the Vatican does for visitors.

What are they? (Just curious.)

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

What are they? (Just curious.)

Useful advice

 

[metis]

Useful advice

Been there, done that.