Tag Archives: body image

Love, sex and romance: Sexual purity for every woman

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A few years ago our women’s discussion group asked a friend to talk about sex within marriage. Some­­one brought a cake, and I remember lots of laughter—perhaps a little too much!—as we chatted about how to love our husbands sexually. The discussion leader answered our questions honestly and helpfully, but when someone asked about masturbation, she said, “I’d have to ask a guy that one”. The question this raised for me was, “Why? Is this really only an issue for men?”
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Trusting in the dark: Some biblical reflections on depression and anxiety

Life

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What do the Scriptures have to say to those who suffer from depression and anxiety? Paul Grimmond shares some personal and biblical reflections.

Ever since my early 20s, I’ve struggled on and off with anxiety and depression. In the last few years, the struggle has become particularly acute. I often wake at 4:30 am and pretend that it’s just the call of my bladder, but I know it isn’t. I know that as soon as I wake, I won’t go to sleep again. My body feels tired—like I’ve been running in my sleep—and my brain whirs away like the hard drive on my computer. I wake up with a thousand questions in my head—none of which seem solvable—and, at times, I’ve been so exhausted, I’ve just curled up in a ball on the floor and cried, wondering if the emptiness will go away soon. I have suffered mainly from anxiety, with periods of very low mood thrown in for good measure. (more…)

Ageing beauty

Up front, Sola Panel

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I’m sitting outside a cafe at a wobbly iron table, my pen moving lazily and messily across my notebook as I dream and write, dream and write. I sip from my mug-sized chai latte. A European wasp hovers hungrily above the frothed milk. (more…)

Look at me! I’m a princess!

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From cinemas to reality TV, the idea of the princess has never been more popular. The world fell in love with Princess Diana, and now Australia has its own fairytale princess: Princess Mary. Tweens (kids aged between 8 and 13—no longer a kid but not yet a teenager) are riveted by the actor Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries, Ella Enchanted). Disney brings together seven of their female characters and dubs them princesses, with corresponding merchandise for little girls. The media often uses the term to refer to females who have made an impression on our hearts. We have watched as Australia’s Princess of Pop, Kylie Minogue, battled with cancer, and have followed the grief and heartache of Princess Bindy (Bindy Irwin) as she spoke at her father’s funeral. Our interest with the idea of princesses is such a part of our society, when Granada Productions called for women between the ages of 18 and 30 to be groomed for a reality television show called Australian Princess, more than 4,000 women applied.1

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Preaching to women on sex

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I was pleased to see the publication of the article ‘Talking Sex’ in Briefing #312. After giving some talkson 1 Corinthians 7 during the past year at a couple of different churches, I was saddened to hear many women say that they had never heard someone speak on sex and relationships before in a helpful and concrete way. Some of these women had been in church all of their life, and many were grandmothers. So when I was asked recently to give a seminar for female ministry trainees at a preaching conference, I chose the topic ‘Preaching on Sex’.

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Talking sex

Pastoral Ministry

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Should Christians talk sex? Should preachers preach sex? There are compelling reasons why, despite the difficulty, the answer is ‘yes’.

I’m writing this article anonymously not because I am embarrassed about preaching on sex, or because there is something in particular to hide. I’ve preached on it many times and think it’s important that we address the topic regularly. It’s just that many people are embarrassed in preaching on the subject, and I would like to help others to address that difficulty, rather than find myself pigeon-holed as the preacher who will come and give a talk on the subject when your minister or women’s worker feels the topic is too hot to handle. It is a hot topic, that’s true; but that is just one more reason for addressing it head on from a biblical framework rather than avoiding it.

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A long, hard look at ourselves

Life

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Jane Tooher developed this article on self-image from a conference address to Christian women, but its argument about where we find our sense of self applies more broadly. Her question: is it possible to understand yourself without reference to God?

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Changing the way you look

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When you look at people, what do you think about? As you walk along the street; when you talk to your work mates; when you meet new people—how do you look at them? What do you think about them?

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Interchange: Christian men reply to Elle

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Feedback on the controversial article ‘The Prince and the Porker’ (Briefing #293).

Candy or Depardieu?

If Ms McPhearson’s experience of her husband’s and her friend’s husband’s view of female bodies is true, she and her friend both have my deepest, male sympathies. But let’s be honest with ourselves! Is it only men that are guilty of this crime? As a “fat and ugly” (not my words) bachelor, I daily live with the fact that I won’t find a wife until I lose weight—a fact told to me not only by a Christian woman but by a Christian woman who is actually in full-time ministry teaching other Christian women!

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