I’m not really on the true cusp of cultural whatever it might be called. I didn’t know, for example, that Kim Kardashian (how come auto correct fills in that name so easily but always changes sin to win?) has put out some sort of, well, it has pages so I guess it is called A Book, called Selfish. It’s a collection of selfies, from what I can tell, and it’s only 13$ on Amazon. In other words, it’s not nice of me to pick on Lena Dunham, as this commenter pointed out:
“As for the selfies, I believe Dunham is very aware of what she is doing. She is trying to fight back against the images that we see everyday. Images and a culture that try to erase and demean women with bodies like hers.”
Well, that’s very noble of her, if that’s really what she is trying to do. I was trying to pay attention to the sermon yesterday, and avoid the conviction of the Holy Spirit by thinking of Other People who would benefit from such a message, and it occurred to me, as I flinched away from my own self loathing, which, tragically, as the sermon so aptly pointed out, comes from self worship–you make an image of yourself, projecting a selfie in your mind’s eye, you measure yourself against that image, you discover that you don’t measure up, you then hate yourself for not measuring up, never bothering to ground your self-image in the scripture, in Jesus, or even in God’s perfect law so that you can despair at least for the right reasons instead of for the wrong ones–and tried to understand what would be the purpose of taking off your clothes to take a picture.
Because we’re not talking about pleasing other people, with this kind of selfie. We’re talking about elevating and adoring the Self. That’s what a selfie is. Please Adore Me. And I understand that Kim K is very much adored. Some people love her as much as other people loath her. Some young women are having their bodies carved and shaped to look like her, with knives and anesthetic and everything. I know this because I had to sit in a waiting room a long time, to have my own body poked and prodded for health reasons, though mercifully not with knives. Kim, for many, is a model of what a young lady should be. She is emulated and adored, maybe not by many, but by some.
And I would go further and say that the culture is kind of with her. Not only is she considered beautiful, I think many think of her as a good person. Again, not everyone. Don’t think I’m blaming you for thinking this. Just in a general cultural sense, she wouldn’t be quite so rich if quite so many people didn’t think she was perfectly lovely.
Counter balance this against Lena Dunham, who must be, for sure, the Anti Kim. Why would Lena Dunham want to take pictures of herself without her clothes on? Our commenter says she is “fighting back” against the body shaming of women with bodies like hers. I dunno. I think there might be some more elegant ways to do that. I think, and of course I don’t really know, having never made either of these young ladies’ personal acquaintance, that in trying for Irony, Ms. Dunham has fallen into the pit of some sour imputation. She would like to be adored in the way of Kim K, but she would like that adoration without having the looks. She would like people to impute to her the status of a buxom shape without going to the trouble of actually getting one.
Imputation is a theological concept whereby you are credited with something that isn’t really yours. We could say that Jesus imputes his goodness and perfection to us, and takes our sin. We trade places. I am seen to be good, even though I am not, and Jesus is considered a sinner while on the cross, even though he is not. In this way, I am welcomed into the kingdom of God, into his merits and benefits. Whether you agree with this theological underpinning or not, imputation is a necessary component of a happy life. Husbands and Wives have to credit each other with status they don’t really possess. I have to treat Matt as if he were Jesus, and he has to treat me as if I am really the perfect church, even though clearly we are not either of those things. We credit each other with a status that we do not inherently possess and in so doing, we welcome the world to see Christ and the Church through the lens of the cross. The world sees our attempts, sees us fail, sees us cry out for mercy from Jesus, sees us forgive, sees us get up and try again, and then, finally, sees us like the image we have so long imputed. Eventually the shadow becomes more like the reality.
I think Lena Dunham, in rebelliously and defiantly, and maybe even ironically insisting that people look at her naked body–a body that is a lot more like mine than Kim K’s–is demanding that the status of Super Hot be imputed to her (not that I am saying Kim K is super hot). You will consider me Beautiful, she is saying.
I will go out on a limb and say that I think this demand and desire is foolish. I don’t think women should take their clothes off for pictures any more than I think women should be completely covered in black from head to toe, body shaming forsooth. The outward selfie has become the ultimate measure of the The Person. The inward person is of little or no value. This is a real shame, a true source of shame. If you have nothing inside of worth, what good is your outer shell? The outward does say something about the inward, but what is being said right now is not useful for helpful.
The cross was the total breaking of the person of Jesus. His body was rent, his soul was forsaken. And we are supposed to be found in him, bound to him, body and soul. If you want your Selfie to be really lovely, drop your self into the merciful hands of Jesus whose naked body was exposed so that yours wouldn’t have to be, so that your brokenness of body and mind wouldn’t have to be airbrushed, or embraced, or denied, but rather healed and resorted. If you want a status that you can’t get on your own, through hard work or even surgery, you could just lift your eyes to adore the one whose perfection is enough for everyone.
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