Imagine a 7 year old pondering how "sexy" she is, and you see the true poison our cultures obsession with "sexiness" is. "Am I hot?" While the culturally uneducated may think this question has to do with weather or possible heath, in fact it has nothing to do with either. It has become one of the most significant questions that teens, and even pre-teens wonder about themselves. Note the shift: this is not a question of whether or not they are pretty, cute, or even beautiful. They question is whether they are physically attractive...
"Am I hot", might as well be, "am I sexy."
This is sad.
It is sad that cute lost out to hot, and even more to the point, that people feel more pressure to appear attractive than to actually be good... to look right rather than to make a difference.
I think that in these matters, young students are largely, "Sheep without a Shepherd." Adults are often to embarrassed or ignorant to really engage them, so they are left to figure it out with their peers and the TV.
I think that if you wait until students are facing the issues, then it is most likely too late. Somehow, you have to plant the seeds they need before they need them. That said, I also think that it makes sense that many students would not know how to talk about it. Most students have probably not had much instruction in this area of their life at all.
I think it is really important to find a way to talk about these issues for a few reasons.
#1 The culture is not waiting. They push their values on students from birth, and no matter how sheltered we try or wish students were, they are being bombarded every day. I know in my life that I had already made many decisions regarding modesty and purity by the time I got to 8th grade.
#2 This topic is not sinful or wrong to talk about. Part of the reason the church has lost such ground on these issues is that we blush and look nervously at our shoes whenever it comes up. This communicates the wrong thing about a topic that the Bible speaks so abundantly and clearly about. (Bible stories are full of sex, prostitutes, virgins, and talk about anatomy, humility and modesty.)
#3 Students are at the age where they are already experimenting with their standards for modesty and purity and they need our help.
In many ways they are like sheep without a shepherd when it comes to this area of life. If we do not talk about it now, they will (and already are) learn about it from their peers, media, and the celebrities they read and hear about. This is our small chance to make a difference so that students do not make mistakes out of pure ignorance.
