A couple of years ago, I looked in the mirror and didn’t like what I saw. So I went through a tough and physical transformation, which is ongoing to this day.
There were many people who I found inspirational in my battle to lose weight and embrace a healthier lifestyle. Among them is BodyBuilding.com spokesmodel Jamie Eason, a fitness icon who’s not just a pretty face and physique on social media, but also a very real human being.
One of the more controversial aspects of Jamie’s social media career is the fact that she’s deeply religious, and makes no secret of that fact in her posts. So much so, in fact, that it’s caused the occasional spat from members of her audience who feel uncomfortable about that sort of thing – myself included.
Yet Jamie’s always backed it up, being truly “Christian” in the way she inspires people, and the examples she sets. For example, she posts “before” and “after” pictures of people who’ve adopted her fitness regime, and brings the hammer down unmercifully on anyone who attempts to body-shame the participants who send their pictures in.
So while I might not agree with everything she believes in, I do respect her deeply as a person for the way she goes about practicing those beliefs.
Which is why I was horrified to read a post from Jamie a few days ago in which she revealed how her husband – a very talented musician – lost out on the opportunity to play at a huge Church event in Texas because of modeling pictures she’d taken early in her career. Nothing pornographic, but lingerie and swimsuit photographs that apparently revealed more than these Church members were happy about.
I’m personally disgusted on a multitude of different levels.
For a start, there’s just the hypocrisy of it all. Here is a religious organization that claims to believe in the teachings of Jesus, yet violates those teaching through their judgmental attitude.
Then there’s the irony of a bunch of sleazy Church elders obviously Googling Jamie’s name to dig up pictures of her. When was the last time a potential employer Googled for images of your spouse when you applied for a job? Did they only do so because she was an attractive model?
But finally, and most telling, there are the obvious assumptions these Church elders made after seeing Jamie’s modeling pictures.
Never mind the fact that she’s a married woman and a devout Christian. In their eyes, just because she posed in swimwear, there is something apparently “unseemly” about her. Her behavior might have always been upright, but her appearance is enough for them to pass judgment on her.
Jamie has struggled her entire career to demonstrate to people that she’s more than just her appearance, and fights for others to be considered more than just the “sum of their looks”. Yet, it’s the people who are supposed to be her allies – the church members who she trusts, believes in, and supports – who have utterly betrayed her.
For me, it’s easy to dismiss them as bigots and knuckleheads, thinking that she’s personally better off having nothing to do with people so petty. Unfortunately, from her Facebook wall and video blogs, it’s clear that she’s been deeply hurt by the accusations, and is being shamed for decisions she made in her past that in no way reflect on her, or her values, today.
Jamie doesn’t have any reason to feel guilty for what she did earlier in her modeling career. However, like millions of American women, because Jamie believes in all this church stuff, she’s empowered these bigoted idiots to make her feel terrible – and that’s a true tragedy.
The sooner people start realizing that those who claim to be the most Christian are often the least, the sooner we can escape the judgment and tyranny of their misogynistic, sex-phobic beliefs.
There were many people who I found inspirational in my battle to lose weight and embrace a healthier lifestyle. Among them is BodyBuilding.com spokesmodel Jamie Eason, a fitness icon who’s not just a pretty face and physique on social media, but also a very real human being.
One of the more controversial aspects of Jamie’s social media career is the fact that she’s deeply religious, and makes no secret of that fact in her posts. So much so, in fact, that it’s caused the occasional spat from members of her audience who feel uncomfortable about that sort of thing – myself included.
Yet Jamie’s always backed it up, being truly “Christian” in the way she inspires people, and the examples she sets. For example, she posts “before” and “after” pictures of people who’ve adopted her fitness regime, and brings the hammer down unmercifully on anyone who attempts to body-shame the participants who send their pictures in.
So while I might not agree with everything she believes in, I do respect her deeply as a person for the way she goes about practicing those beliefs.
Which is why I was horrified to read a post from Jamie a few days ago in which she revealed how her husband – a very talented musician – lost out on the opportunity to play at a huge Church event in Texas because of modeling pictures she’d taken early in her career. Nothing pornographic, but lingerie and swimsuit photographs that apparently revealed more than these Church members were happy about.
I’m personally disgusted on a multitude of different levels.
For a start, there’s just the hypocrisy of it all. Here is a religious organization that claims to believe in the teachings of Jesus, yet violates those teaching through their judgmental attitude.
Then there’s the irony of a bunch of sleazy Church elders obviously Googling Jamie’s name to dig up pictures of her. When was the last time a potential employer Googled for images of your spouse when you applied for a job? Did they only do so because she was an attractive model?
But finally, and most telling, there are the obvious assumptions these Church elders made after seeing Jamie’s modeling pictures.
Never mind the fact that she’s a married woman and a devout Christian. In their eyes, just because she posed in swimwear, there is something apparently “unseemly” about her. Her behavior might have always been upright, but her appearance is enough for them to pass judgment on her.
Jamie has struggled her entire career to demonstrate to people that she’s more than just her appearance, and fights for others to be considered more than just the “sum of their looks”. Yet, it’s the people who are supposed to be her allies – the church members who she trusts, believes in, and supports – who have utterly betrayed her.
For me, it’s easy to dismiss them as bigots and knuckleheads, thinking that she’s personally better off having nothing to do with people so petty. Unfortunately, from her Facebook wall and video blogs, it’s clear that she’s been deeply hurt by the accusations, and is being shamed for decisions she made in her past that in no way reflect on her, or her values, today.
Jamie doesn’t have any reason to feel guilty for what she did earlier in her modeling career. However, like millions of American women, because Jamie believes in all this church stuff, she’s empowered these bigoted idiots to make her feel terrible – and that’s a true tragedy.
The sooner people start realizing that those who claim to be the most Christian are often the least, the sooner we can escape the judgment and tyranny of their misogynistic, sex-phobic beliefs.
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