Kudos to Christina Mead for this thought provoking observation. Nothing happens “all at once”…it’s the devil’s plan to get his foot in the door and tempt us gradually. 
Full column can be found here.
Emma Watson, the actress who plays Hermione, has always interested me. She’s absolutely charming – and she looks gorgeous with or without hair. So when I saw a quote from her about modesty I instantly wanted to read it. Here’s what she said in an interview back in 2009:
“I find the whole concept of being ‘sexy’ embarrassing and confusing. If I do an interview with photographs people desperately want to change me – dye my hair blonder, pluck my eyebrows, give me a fringe. Then there’s the choice of clothes. I know everyone wants a picture of me in a mini-skirt. But that’s not me. I feel uncomfortable. I’d never go out in a mini-skirt. It’s nothing to do with protecting the Hermione image. I wouldn’t do that. Personally, I don’t actually think it’s even that sexy. What’s sexy about saying, ‘I’m here with my boobs out and a short skirt, have a look at everything I’ve got?’ My idea of sexy is that less is more. The less you reveal the more people can wonder.”
So … um … Emma, what happened? What changed? Why didn’t you stick to what you believed so passionately a couple years ago?
Have you seen any of Emma’s recent photos from the red carpet or modeling shoots? Let’s just say the world isn’t “wondering” anymore. My guess is that Emma may have changed her opinion about being sexy to conform to what the rest of Hollywood says.
But losing your modesty doesn’t happen over night. It happens kind of easily, doesn’t it? To let our standards down little by little. One day we can decide to wear something that’s a little too tight. Then … well … what’s the big deal if I pull this top a little lower? Or buy a skirt a little shorter than usual. Pretty soon those little decisions pile up and what we once believed whole-heartedly has been forgotten like a boy-band you loved in grade school.
Other also read:
Miley Cyrus, anyone? (http://www.latimes.com/features/image/la-ig-miley5-2009apr05,0,102356.story)… etc etc etc, as the King of Siam was wont tosay…
I don’t think Taylor Swift is far behind…
I guess it’s true we really are ALL sinners…Mary, Joseph, and any saint you can name. Jesus was the only sinless man who walked the face of the earth. Please stop judging people, Colleen.
Jim, the only thing I said was, “Kudos to Christina Mead for this thought provoking observation. Nothing happens “all at once”…it’s the devil’s plan to get his foot in the door and tempt us gradually.”. Seems like you are judging me.
Didn’t you say “I don’t think Taylor Swift is far behind”? These are human beings. Taylor Swift and Emma Watson are someone’s daughter, sister, friend. Put yourself in their shoes and please give God’s word a chance. I understand PepsiCo is another one of your targets…what about targeting the priests who abuse children that are alive and suffering today? Fight for what you believe in, but always remember there’s two sides to every coin. People make judgements every day, but they should make them in kindness and love, and respectfully.
My, Jim….you don’t know much about me at all, do you? You are judging me based on a blog posting or two, which is (frankly) rash judgment. I’ve been very active in the priest issue…wow, if you only knew!
Yes, I’ll say it again…I think Taylor Swift is falling rapidly since she moved out of her mother’s house and on her own. And yes, I actually CAN put myself in her shoes because I’ve been there personally. There was nothing unkind, unloving, and/or disrespectful about what was said. I think you’re having a knee-jerk reaction to something/someone else totally unrelated to Emma Watson and Taylor Swift. Pax Christi.
Touché! I think you’ve put me in my place, if that’s what you wanted to do, plus I’m exhausted. Folks, don’t mess with Colleen.
Colleen, don’t let Jim get you down. There are a lot of people I can accuse of being judgmental, and you aren’t one of them. If anything, I wish more people were like you.
You are so right. I am not a Catholic, but definitely agree on the modesty issue. I did not know much about Taylor Swift, except that my daughter’s friend listened to her, saying how ‘clean’ she was, yet I caught a glimpse of a video she made recently that was so lewd I had to turn away. I think it is called ‘Fearless’? It was more than immodest, it was like watching a teen girl…well…you know. It was shocking! Then I googled some images of her and saw immodesty at almost every turn. Ahhh. I wish we had more modest examples.
Colleen, you mention Taylor Swift, and I noticed one of her earlier hits, “You Belong To Me”, comes from the point of view of a boying-dressing gal(she tells a guy she pines for how the gal he pines for wears skirts and pumps, while she wears pants and T-shirts, as if dressing masculine makes a gal morally superior to a feminine dresser). The irony is Taylor Swift is likelier than not to wear skirts and dresses, as opposed to pants and shorts.
I don’t think her outfit was so terrible. Besides, in 2009 she was still a child really. Now she’s a grown woman.
I won’t post links to her less modest outfits, but as one of my friends on Facebook pointed out: “There are some pictures of her out there that are crude. And if anyone hasn’t seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1, a naked Emma Watson embraces and kisses a naked Daniel Radcliffe. Perhaps one MIGHT argue the relativity of modesty at times, but this is not one of them.”
What happened to Emma Watson? Hollywood. Every single starlet whether she’s claimed a different standard for herself or not, finds out that she cannot take the moral high ground and remain a successful actress, period. Look at Jim Cavieziel. Very good actor. He will never be on a mainstream level due to his public declaration of his faith. It’s the age old choice: the world (in this case Hollywood/movie star) or the Faith. Now I’ve never read that Miss Watson was a Christian, but she’d been imbued with a sense, due to natural law I suppose, that she was of intrinsic value for some reason, and that shedding one’s clothes did not denote being valued for one’s self and soul. Unfortunately, to “grow up” in Hollywood means you have to expose your (new) grown up womanly body to prurient onlookers. It’s a real tragedy, but it’s no suprise. I’m sorry for her and the life she’s chosen.
That was with Colleen that I was agreeing.
Have a great day, all!
To have a starlet do this could be taken to mean that it’s a desire to get noticed, and offered more roles “later on”. But when the person who does it is an adult, knowing full well that she has an audience of millions… it just shows that we are getting our priorities totally wrong: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120311/blogs/wear-it-s-at.410517