Men: Don't Be A Boor

It never ceases to amaze me how easily the world (remember, when I say world, I’m referring to anyone not acknowledging Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior) is perplexed by issues that would be simple to comprehend from a Biblical perspective. For example, let’s take the latest cause celebre: sexual harassment.

Shamelessly referencing my August 2015 post, Women on Harleys, if more followed that template (His, not mine), we would dramatically reduce this silliness. Rewinding even further to a catalyst of the aforementioned post, if young women had heeded Katherine Marshall’s words in the film A Man Called Peter, we would not be in this predicament.

So buckle in, as this post will probably ruffle as many feathers as I have ever ruffled.

As usual, trying to define liberal terms or concepts is pretty much like trying to nail jello to the wall; good luck. Think of hate crimes. What the heck is that?! A crime is a crime or not. It doesn’t matter if you love or hate the victim. If you punch me in the head (as many I’m sure have dreamt of) your motivation shouldn’t matter. My head will hurt regardless.

Sexual harassment: In the words of Luther Heggs (look it up), “…let me clarify”. In our moral relativist world, it depends on who you ask. Does the woman have any responsibility at all in not creating or avoiding the situation? Absolutely. This is the 800 pound gorilla that the liberal, gender blending, post-modern, God-hating world does not want to talk about. And you better not talk about it either. Especially from an intolerant Christian viewpoint!

I better get this in now (it might be too late already): unwanted (what this means, varies from person to person and situation to situation) talk or action of a sexual nature is never acceptable. And it can go both ways. Women are not the only victims. The problem for the world (because this is a non-issue among truly Born-Again Believers as women are exalted and treated as God intended) is that so many mixed messages are sent.

As a friend (not a Christian) of mine pointed out as we briefly touched on this subject, it’s fraught with hypocrisy. His example centered on the founder of Playboy, Hugh Hefner, who recently died. This purveyor of pornography and the exploitation of women was celebrated as a great innovator. A genius ahead of his time, helping society to “loosen-up” and not be so “uptight” about sex. Men and women lauded him. Women? Yeah; go figure. So we have a society that touts a pornographer as some great visionary whose only real claim to fame was making it acceptable, even fashionable, to view women as objects of lust first and foremost. Add to this the air-brushed physical qualities emphasized and you create a population of men and women with unrealistic expectations and the accompanying frustration. But, although he may be the most prolific example of the trash peddlers in society, their number is legion.

This takes to me to the crux of the hypocrisy in regards to this issue, and it’s two-pronged: a male and female workforce and immodesty among women.

Yikes! I better start going out in public disguised.

The workforce: men and women were never intended (husband and wife excepted) to be alone together for long periods of time. A work setting often creates this dynamic. Add to this striving for a common goal, especially where emotions can run high, and intimacy can develop. Add to the mix how many women obviously dress with no thought of modesty, and you can figure out the rest. This is not theory, as I have worked in co-ed environments, from professional businesses, to retail, to jails, and have witnessed it first-hand (don’t even get me started on co-ed colleges!). Of course, I realize men and women will, and must, be in the same environment in certain situations such as hospital, schools, and law enforcement, but their roles could be proscribed more to minimize gratuitous contact. There’s a lot to be said for traditional male and female roles; it helps preventing many of the situations from ever developing.

The other prong is the proliferation of what I’ll refer to as the “hot babe” syndrome. This is characterized by so many women in legitimate positions on cable and television such as news/weather/sports reporters and the like that are young (or trying to appear such), attractive (or trying to appear such), and dressed like a strumpet (most Christians know what it means without looking it up). Skin tight dresses that leave no more to the imagination than a bikini are not what one should be prancing around in when protesting sexual harassment. At least be honest: if you dress that way and welcome the attention it garners, no matter where it comes from, I can respect that. You are just as wrong for thinking it’s alright to be immodest publicly, but at least you’re not a hippo, man.

So here we are, full circle. What is sexual harassment? I suppose it’s up to every women (or man) to decide, but look in the mirror before you do. I think we can agree that unwanted conversation and/or physical contact is never acceptable, but when does it becomes criminal? Sometimes, it's just plain boorish behavior. Males are created in such a way as to want to pursue females in a physical sense. Both sexes have to understand this and reign themselves in accordingly.  As many talking heads want to promote the rearing of little boys in a way to eliminate their inherent masculinity, you can see society is quick to throw the baby out with the bath water. The last thing we need is solutions from those who promote gender neutrality and homosexuality as normal.

So, let me be as clear as possible on a couple things, so as to minimize unintended backlash (and I certainly don’t want to be a victim of a hate crime!).

One: in every case where a woman is targeted with unwanted talk or touching that is unquestionably sexual – the man is guilty of sinful behavior and possibly a crime.

Two: in some of these cases the woman shares responsibility for (at the very least), ignorance to outright lewd and sinful behavior.

Like the majority of societal problems, this one can trace its roots to the loss of its Christian heritage. I’m not saying that Christians can’t sin in this area also, but if they do, they will be the first ones to take responsibility and ask and receive forgiveness from God. Real followers of Jesus would be hard pressed to find themselves in this spot. When you have Christian women dressing appropriately as to not cause a Brother to stumble, and Christian men treating their Sisters as the Holy vessels Jesus intended, there will be a corresponding drop in these episodes.

Even a dope cannot deny the positive ramifications of such an approach. Heck, they might even ask Jesus to become the Lord of their life!