So, an interesting news commentary on the release of Barbie in a Burka.
Comments are even more intriguing as people suggest an accompanying Ken with a bag of stones or G.I. Joe with his head cut off etc... seems it's a controversal move by the toy maker giant Mattel.
That said, I'm sure there is money to be made which is how those decisions are driven - not by moral conclusions.
I wonder what it says. Of course, I've seen some pretty scary looking Barbie's practically undressed and looking like they belong in the sex industry not in a little girls closet... I wonder what is worse?
Last time I spoke to a Muslim extremist young women she suggested that her Burka was freeing for her and her friends... she didn't have to worry about being judged and gawked at because of how she looked. Another Islamic women likens the Burka to a jail sentence... I've just this week spoken to a woman who worked in prostitution for years and considered it liberating and I've met countless others whose lives have paid a steep price for that women's so called freedom.
So what does it say?
It at least says that we live in a very complex world. It at least says, that to navigate it will require copious amounts of wisdom and grace. It at least says that the Muslim world is a commercial market that the west is courting at the same time it's declared 'war'. It at least says that women everywhere are still women and little girls everywhere need to learn what the value and worth and dignity of a woman is. I wish it would say that every woman was made in the very image of God and is beautiful not just because of what's on the outside - whether it's a cover-up or a half-naked display but because of their intrinsic worth - because of what they are on the inside. Oh how I wish every girl knew that... if only there was a market for that kind of message!