To all my fellow ladies out there,

You are beautiful; absolutely gorgeous. It doesn’t matter what any guy says about you, or anyone for that matter. You no longer have to seek validation from what anyone says about you. It is true, we all just want to be loved and feel loved. Society tells us that we can get that feeling of being loved by the way we dress. We feel that if we put on a tight dress, a really short skirt, or a shirt that shows a lot of skin, we can feel good about ourselves by knowing that a few guys might take notice of us and think we look pretty. Or maybe it’s not even that. Maybe it is just a personal preference and you simply like wearing something that shows a lot of skin because you like the style and it just makes you feel good. Trust me, I understand, and I have been there, but now I see that what the world offers us in selling us this image based on sex appeal is selling us short. It’s only giving us a cheap version of what we really want.

When we put on our short shorts, bandeaus, leggings, or bare backed shirts, we tend to get looked at by guys, not for who we are, but for what our bodies look like. I used to like the attention, but now I see that I was only being lusted after. I wanted to be loved, but what I was getting was only surface level. I was seen as more of an object to be looked at and obtained rather than a person to be known and loved for who she is.

Women don’t like being told that they need to dress to accommodate men so that they are not distracted by women’s figures. Many women believe that that is a man’s problem and a woman should not have to pay the price. There are many men, though, who desperately want to see women for who they are, for the mystery that she is, not for merely her exterior, yet they struggle to do so, despite their admirable intentions, because they cannot erase the image of her body from his mind. This is not because he has to just try harder; this is because images stay seared into men’s minds whether they like it or not. It’s simply a biological fact that men differ this way from women, so it is understandable that women do not always understand. I believe, though, that it is only charitable to our honorable brothers to dress in a way that will make it easier for them, and in doing so, we will regain the respect that we, as women, deserve. We deserve to be seen for who we are, not for simply our bodies. We deserve to be respected and to find a true love that is not merely for our bodies, but for the women who live inside.

With love,

Your fellow sister