On Sheep

Ah…Facebook, you are a constant muse. If my pen runs dry I can just look to you for inspiration and wisdom.

I started noticing women posting colors yesterday. I thought nothing of it; I assumed it was some meaningless posting (like song lyrics without context). My wife dug a little deeper and informed me that it was for a cause. Women were posting their bra color to raise awareness for breast cancer. I let it go until I saw my own sister’s bra color on Facebook. I decided enough is enough. Please allow me to vent my anger over this phenomenon.

I am already aware of cancer. I know a friend who has breast cancer. My nephew almost died of cancer and my grandmother did. To me it is not some trite cause you can support by telling me your underwear color. Can anything be more insulting, trivializing such a heartbreaking disease? Sorry. You cannot get to feel good about helping a cause unless you do something concrete to help. Please give money or time to help fight the disease not meaningless gestures. Don’t cheapen yourselves or the pain felt by many families with empty words. I know what it’s like to hear people say, “Support the troops” and watch as they go about there daily lives as if nothing is different. I hate cheap and empty words.

The deeper anger I feel is how these postings are degrading to women. Moreover, the women who are degrading themselves don’t even notice. Can you only express yourself through your sexuality? It seems so as I read over and over each girl telling the world the color and style of her bra. Think about this from my point of view. I will turn thirty this summer. I do not want to think about what bra a seventeen-year-old girl is wearing. It is disgusting for me to think of such things, yet there it is out in a public arena for all to dwell on. I can understand a seventeen-year-old girl not understanding her sexuality because it is new to her. What really irks me is how older women of wisdom and stature, who should guard against such foolishness, have also posted. You should know better. You should know the power of your sexuality.

I want to get this point across because I will not be part of degrading women. I can’t stand it. I will further explain the mind of a man for women who think this is no big deal; after all, it’s just a bra. Women, after posting your bra color, the next man you engage in conversation (even when you have something important to say like asking for cancer research donations) will be thinking to himself: “I wonder what color her bra is today. I wonder if it has lace. I wonder what her nipples look like.” And don’t go thinking it will be some sleaze ball creep either; it will be a man of character. He probably doesn’t even really want to think of you sexually but he is designed to. The more character a man has the more he appreciates beauty and there is no greater beauty then a woman’s form.

A man of character has to deny himself until the proper time to enjoy such great beauty. Some men are better at this than others. When sexually intimate images like a bra color is given out, they spark the imagination of a man. I don’t excuse a man of his actions, but it seems to me that Facebook posters don’t understand the consequences of theirs. Don’t make it any harder for a man to hold you in respect and honor.

Just so I don’t sound too harsh and sexist. What of all the boys who posted jokes or fake colors of their own? They are the fools. They trivialize the very people they should honor, and degrade those they should protect. They are not even worth the time it takes to write about them.

I thought it was very telling that one poster kept posting “SUPORT THE CAUSE” over and over any time a color was added to the collage of immaturity. At least someone understood the people were just acting as sheep following those in front of them. If this can happen on Facebook, what of our electoral process? What of our democracy?