Thoughts to Uncle Screwtape

I thought I might share some thoughts from The Screwtape Letters, which I just finished for an AP summer reading project. The book was increadibly thought provoking, but here's one quote in particular I decided to rant on...
"As a result we are more and more directing the desires of men to something which does not exsis- making the role of the eye in sexuality more and more important and at the same time making its demands more and more impossible." (Lewis, 107)
The harsh reality of society today is that the above passage properly describes the sexual situation of America, and the results affect the lives of millions. Seven million women in the United States have an eating disorder, and 95% of those range from ages 12-25. By age 16, over 80% of girls have attempted to lose weight in some form or fashion. The pressure to look a certain way stems from the female desire to be desirable, accepted, and wanted, but the criterea for a body that will achieve this is unrealistic. Women have been reduced to believe they must fit the mold to be desirable, and everywhere in the media (clothing advertisments, movies, commercials, magazines) the skinny, evenly proportioned, beautiful (an objective adjetive to begin with) female is glorified. But Lewis refers only to the role of the male eye in making these demands so outrageous, when in reality a judgmental look from a women is equally damaging to the self-esteem and the cause of increased self-consciousness. While men can be easily distracted from a woman's flaws by her obvious and more appealing qualities, a woman can skip right to the imperfections with a self-assured gaze that has perfected the criticism of her own sex. Just as men have the God-given responsibility to remain pure in thought and action, women are called do the same. Encouragment and love for one another, as each was created, individual and in Christ's image, we must not succumb to the opinions of the world. I believe we were given eyes to see beauty- colors, pictures and scenes from our lives that arouse emotion, experiences. If we see the beauty in every person; their heart, their colors, their expereinces, not only do we find ourselves less critical of our Creator's work, but less critical of ourselves.