Eugene Cho, pastor, social entrepreneur, blogger, and fellow Covenanter (just had to get that in there!), posted this video on his blog yesterday. It’s over eight minutes long, but seriously? Watch the whole thing. Even if it turns your stomach a bit.

Miss Representation 8 min. Trailer 8/23/11 from Miss Representation on Vimeo.

What does it tell a woman when she is valued primarily for her looks? I was pondering this yesterday. As I’ve become more active on Twitter, I’ve noticed a startling amount of Christian men referring to their “beautiful wife” so-and-so. Now, there’s nothing wrong with a husband saying his wife is beautiful. Far from it. But when beauty is the primary descriptor a man uses for his wife, especially to describe her to other people, that’s just weird.

Seriously, guys? Think this one through again, and then take it down. Yes, your wife probably doesn’t mind–in fact, she’s probably flattered. But probably, she should mind. Probably, she’s just watched too much TV, read too many magazines, spent too much of her life being taught, consciously and subconsciously, that being a woman is about creating beauty, to please herself and other people. Probably, you should make a conscious effort to affirm the incredible woman God has placed in your life for things like her character, her mind, her personality, her commitment to God. Not for fleeting things that will pass away.

Rachel Held Evans has written a lot about how her Year of Biblical Womanhood Project has revolutionized the way she views Proverbs 31. We tend to view the Proverbs 31 Woman as a hard-working, well-dressed, prim-and-proper housewife–Donna Reed in a purple dress. But in fact, she is described as an eschet chayil, a woman of valor–heroic language usually used to describe God. Jewish husbands would read Proverbs 31 to their wives as a compliment, praising her resourcefulness, affirming her hard work, and complimenting her character. (I wrote in depth about Proverbs 31, and my ambiguous relationship with the passage, in The Proverbs 31 Woman, Theology, and Me, parts one, two, and three.)

The media isn’t going to stop objectifying women and packaging them for easy sale. It’s up to us to reject those stereotypes, and teach those in our circles of influence to reject them. Let’s start praising women for the things that matter to God, not for how well they serve up  succulent enticements that tempt the world’s carnal appetites.