Upset that some students attending the Alabama-USC game showed up “looking like they belonged in a Victoria’s Secret fashion show,” Alabama mom and UA grad Rebecca Walden posted a blog on the Huffington Post suggesting they “stop baring almost all in the name of game day fashion.” She went on to add that “families attend these games. Little eyes are watching you.”
The post struck a nerve, prompting the Huffington Post to delete the article and compelling current University of Alabama student Alejandra Tenorio to pen an angry response titled “Dear Rebecca Walden And Every Woman Who Is Still ‘Slut-Shaming.’”
“Slut-shaming is real, we see it every day and this blog post is one of the countless examples roaming the cyber world today,” she wrote. “We, as young women, have grown up in a world where we have been taught our shoulders distract boys from learning. We’ve been threatened to get sent home from school if our knees show. Little by little, comment to comment, it adds up… The more we bash on one another for dressing too revealing, the more we are perpetuating the rape culture so many have been victims of… Her tasteless and bashful opinion isn’t going to make girls want to dress ‘classier’ and ‘cover up’ more. It’s going to make that one girl who finally grew the courage to flaunt her body in a new dress she had been too intimidated to wear before regret ever going to the game in the first place.”
On Wednesday’s episode of Yellowhammer Radio, host Cliff Sims began by “psychoanalyzing” the outrage against Mrs. Walden, saying the angry responses are indicative of how people respond when they know there is some truth in the criticism they are receiving.
“Every now and then somebody will send Yellowhammer an email being critical of something I wrote or said on the radio, or when I didn’t conduct myself in a way that I should have,” he said. “If my initial reaction is to be mad, sometimes that makes me realize, ‘Oh shoot, they’re probably right.'”
Sims said the accusation that Mrs. Walden was engaging in “slut shaming” is ironic, because it’s usually the Left “shaming” their political opponents into submission to advance their agenda, only this time the tables are turned and feminists are the targets.
“They do it by shaming people,” Sims explained. “‘You believe marriage is between a man and a woman? Oh, well you’re a bigot.’ You get shamed for that. They shame you culturally and call you names in hopes that you won’t do that anymore, that you won’t say anything publicly anymore. But in this case I just have a hard time believing shaming them is somehow a bad thing — that when people are acting or dressing (this way) they shouldn’t be shamed for it.”
Sims also addressed Ms. Tenorio’s claim that calling their attire distasteful is “perpetuating the rape culture,” saying it’s another tactic liberals use to end debate.
“Statistics say an alarming number of women at some point in their lives deal with sexual assault, so this is a serious, serious topic,” he said. “But people who take the position this young girl is taking create this false argument that either you’re for girls dressing however they want, or if not then you’re for the rapists. My position is… you can be against both. If a girl walks down the street naked, that’s not a license for a man to do anything to her. And if they do, they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law — throw them under the jail. But that’s also not a pass for a girl to walk down the straight naked. They’re both wrong.”
On a lighter note, Sims said it has been his experience that the girls who come to the games dressed promiscuously are usually the same ones who constantly complain that there are “no good guys left in the world.” “‘Every guy I meet is a scumbag. Every guy I date is a scumbag, ends up being a lowlife.'” He went on to compare the issue to a business having problems with their advertising strategy.
“If you’re selling boats, I would imagine it’d probably be a good idea to get a billboard at Lake Martin or Smith Lake,” he said. “You’re going to tell your target audience what you’re offering. But if you’re in your store one day, and for some reason a bunch of people come in thinking your store is selling cheerleading outfits, you’ve probably got a problem with your advertising. So the question for these girls who go to football games dressed like they’re Victoria’s Secret runway models… who are the same ones complaining ‘every guy I meet is a scumbag’… is what are you advertising?… Either it’s false advertising and you’re attracting the wrong customers, or it’s accurate advertising and you just don’t like the results.”
In conclusion, Sims said “I’m not going to tell you how to dress, but I will tell you the criteria you should consider when you are deciding how you’re going to dress.”
“What is the purpose of our lives?” He asked. “If you’re a Christian, the purpose of your life is really quite simple — it’s to know God and to make God known, to glorify God in everything you do. In your work, in your play, in your private life, in your public life, in everything you do, it comes down to, ‘Does this action glorify God?’ If the answer to that question is ‘no’, then even if it’s culturally acceptable, the simple response is ‘I’m just not going to do that if it doesn’t glorify God.’ So if you believe showing up to a college football game dressed like you’re going to a Victoria’s Secret runway show glorifies your God in heaven, then I guess do it. But I have a hard time believing somebody out there can make the case that it does.”
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