By:
Tabitha Garnica
 |
| Our society seems to have lost the beauty of male purity |
“Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.” ~ Matthew 5:8
Dear
Young Catholic Men,
As you know, we, as Catholics, hold sex
to a high standard. We are taught that
sex is meant only between a husband and a wife.
As a woman, I have been told several
times to “respect my body.” You would be
interested to know that most females are told that men are only after one
thing, and that it is our job to keep sex sacred.
My boyfriend told me about a talk he
attended about purity, and about how he was told to respect women’s
bodies. I found it interesting that both
of us are being told that my body
needed to be respected. What about his body?
I can honestly say that no one has
ever told me that it is important to respect men’s bodies. Are the bodies of women more sacred than the
bodies of men? Am I supposed to be this
sacred untouchable vessel, and are men supposed to be hungry cavemen who need
to be stopped?
Even in the media, men are portrayed
as sex-starved and immoral as they try to “charm” women to have sex with them. Are men really that unable to control their
sexual desires? If this is true, how are
Catholic men supposed to keep this standard of purity? Moreover, why are men
not demanding the same amount of respect that women are almost begged to
demand?
Catholicism seems to believe that
male bodies are sacred. After all, the
human form of God was a male. All of his
apostles were male. Priests are male. Yet,
why are women never told to respect the bodies of men? Why are men never told to respect their own
bodies? Why does the media tell us that
men put absolutely no value on sex?
What would happen if all women lost
respect for their bodies? Would we be
able to count on men to uphold Catholic morality? Or is it true that once a
woman succumbs to her sexual desires, the man automatically takes advantage of
her? Do men know how to say no? If they do say no, is it only for the sake of
women, or do they have something of their own to protect and keep pure?
Catholic men of the world, I ask you
to demand respect for your body from yourselves and others. That sentence probably sounds odd since you
have probably never heard it before. But
I want to let you all know that your bodies are just as sacred as mine. Show the same amount of respect for yourself
as you are told to show to your sisters in Christ. You are worth waiting for until marriage; you
are worth keeping pure. You.
As a singular human being.
Yes, it is important for you to respect the bodies of women. However, how are you supposed to show this
respect to us if you are not showing it to yourselves? For your own sakes, resist the temptations of
casual sex, porn, adultery, and everything else that perverts the sacredness
marriage. God created you for more than
that. Help us Catholic women uphold
Catholic standards by setting an example.
Tear down the stereo-types that men hold no value to sex and their bodies. Show this secular world that men hold
themselves to high standards of morality and purity.
Yours in
Christ,
Tabitha
Garnica
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Copyright (c) Tabitha Garnica 2013 All Rights Reserved
Photo Credits
- Purity Ring
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, first of all. I myself, as a Catholic Male, was always taught to respect my body by my priests in particular. I think it's important to remember that regardless of what the media says (or even the scriptures, for that matter) we should all do our best to abolish generalities and apply our principles that we hold dearly to all people. I can and have said No to women (and men) before when sex was an immediate option. I don't think it's necessarily impure inherently but I would only do that if I was in love, out of respect for myself and my partner. This is just my opinion though. Live by the standards you believe in, and you'll find happiness in them. God bless!
ReplyDelete"necessarily impure inherently"
Deletetaught by your priests that THEY respected YOUR body?! hahahaha
ReplyDeletetry not to drink the kool aid too quickly
ReplyDelete