Aunt Sevvy: My Wife’s Shape Is Showing
Dear Aunt Sevvy:
I disapprove of the way my wife dresses. She wears tops and pants that reveal her female form. I know what goes through my mind when I look at a woman’s curves, and I’m afraid other men are looking at her that way, too. What can I do to convince her that as a Christian woman she should go the extra mile to not let anyone be tempted by her female features? Signed, Christian Curve Concerns
Dear Curve Concerns:
This is a serious problem you should address with your wife right away. If she’s showing off her womanly curves she’s causing men to stumble! You must immediately demand she wear nothing but shapeless mumus.
But is that really enough? Aunt Sevvy is alarmed that men might find your wife’s hair beautiful. She should either cover it or cut it off. It will be good for her, too: she is less likely to commit the sin of vanity about it.
But really, is even that far enough? In Victorian times men were turned on by the flash of a bare ankle. Please ensure that your wife is wearing tall rubber muck boots that cover her ankles. And take care that her mumu is long enough to cover the tops of the boots, lest another man see a bit of skin.The more Aunt Sevvy thinks about it, the more she realizes some men just go wild for a pair of sensuous soft lips. Naturally, your wife can’t wear lipstick or lip gloss. But even chapstick may give off an alluring shimmer. Better she go about with chapped, bleeding lips.
All of this probably explains why women in some countries wear a covering over their faces. Perhaps you should consider something like that for your wife?
In fact, if women are responsible for men’s lust, they probably shouldn’t even be out of the house except around other women. Anywhere your wife goes alone she might be glimpsed by men. Just to be on the safe side, you shouldn’t let her drive.
All of that should keep the men in the world under control with regard to your wife.
Of course, none of that can stop you from leering at other women, something you admit doing. And since you can’t control how the rest of the world’s women dress, maybe you should begin to think about you and your fellow men controlling your own eyes and thoughts. After all, Jesus’ response to lust was for the looker to poke out his own eye, not cover up the looked-at.
All of which might suggest the following alternative to all of Aunt Sevvy’s advice above: stay out of your wife’s business and let her use her own good Christian judgment in how she chooses to dress.
You can write to Aunt Sevvy at DearAuntSevvy@gmail.com. Please keep questions or comments short. What you send us at this address won’t necessarily be, but could be, published—always without real names. Aunt Sevvy writes her own column, and her opinions are not necessarily those of Adventist Today’s editors.