Modesty in the Media

If you look around in our society and the media, you very rarely see modesty. As young girls, we look up to women who are put before us and they become role models and examples. In the media, women such as Beyonce, Rihanna, and Nicki Minaj are glorified while conscious and positive artists such as India Arie, Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu are overlooked. When we see the fame and fortune that women such as Beyonce receive, we naturally desire to be like them to receive the attention, glamour and fame that they have. Many women who enter the industry have to sacrifice their bodies to “make it”.

At a young age, girls begin to learn that the behavior exhibited by the majority of women in the media is what is needed to become big. Many youth today desire to be entertainers because this lifestyle is glorified thru the music we hear, social networks that we log on, and television that we watch. Most youth today have this yearning to be stars. As girls, we look up to the stars in the media and realize that they sacrifice their virtue, femininity, and righteousness for fame. As girls, we have been taught that our bodies are the way to get the attention, glamour, and fame that we desire. As girls, we have been taught thru the media that if we do not sacrifice our bodies, then we won’t “make it”.

Unfortunately, most celebrities do not dress modestly because modest dress is not promoted in our society and modest dress is not promoted in our society because it’s not promoted in the media. This never-ending cycle is a conspiracy and an attack on women. This attack carries the intention to strip away all forms of respect, dignity, femininity, and virtue from the woman, particularly, the black woman. The enemy desires to make us loose. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said, “The enemy wants you to think nothing of yourself, so the enemy strips you of your real nature. He has denatured the female and the male and anytime somebody denatures you, they have devalued you. So right now as a woman or as a Black man, you are not valued, and the worst part of that is, you don’t value yourself,” He later stated, “God couldn’t make us the head if the woman is not lifted. If God does not lift the woman, the man will never come up, so if God is going to make a new world and a better world, He is going to make that world coming through a woman.”

It is not in a woman’s nature to desire to expose her body to the world. It is not in a woman’s nature to want to feel naked. Our society and media have planted the thought in our minds that sexy is beautiful and modesty is unattractive and ugly. This is far from the truth. Immodesty is just what’s “hot”. In the world where we live, the majority of the populations are followers. We follow what we see on T.V. We follow what we hear in the music and we follow what we see other people do. You don’t have to follow what’s “hot”! Just because we live in a world where immodesty is the order of the day, it doesn’t mean that immodesty has to be the order of your day.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught the Black man and women to accept your own and be yourself. Your true self is a righteous Muslim – one who submits his or her will to the will of Allah (God). Allah desires for us to cover ourselves while this wicked world desires to make us loose thru the negative images in the media.

Accept your own and be yourself!