For anyone who has ever seen videos or photos of teen singer Billie Eilish, you’ve probably noticed she nearly always wears baggy and oversized clothes. There’s an unfortunate reason for her outfits.
At 17 years old, Eilish released her first studio album in March. The record, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go,” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s top 200 list. Despite her success, or maybe because of it, she’s still susceptible to America’s pornified culture.
In a recent ad for Calvin Klein, Eilish, who is just a teenage kid, said she chooses to wear oversized clothes because she doesn’t want people to be able to see her body and make judgements about it.
“I never want the world to know everything about me. I mean, that’s why I wear big, baggy clothes,” the pop star explained. “Nobody can have an opinion if they can’t see what’s underneath.”
“Nobody can be like, ‘She’s slim thick,’ ‘She’s not slim thick,’ ‘She’s got a flat a**,’ ‘She’s got a fat a**,’” she continued. “No one can say any of that, because they don’t know.”
The heartbreaking reason behind Eilish’s wardrobe is resonating in our over-sexualized culture. One commenter on YouTube wrote:
This is so true though. It might sound extreme, but this is one of the main reasons I’m done with dating (at least for a while). I got tired of the constant nagging about how I should dress more revealing and with higher heels so the guy can prove something to his buddies (I live in SoCal so guys here have opinions about how they want ‘their woman’ to look). No regard for my physical or psychological comfort.
“What I want people to see when they look at me is a good-hearted gal with a strong work ethic who has accomplished a lot at a young age,” she continued. “See me for who I am on the inside since that’s what matters.”
The unfortunate reality is Eilish and that YouTube commenter are not the exception — they’re the rule. We live in a society that is so infused with pornography, women, especially young women, are seen as a collection of body parts.
If you’re not convinced, maybe a few stats will help: 40 million Americans regularly visit pornography sites, with 28,258 people watching explicit content online every single second. A staggering 35 percent of all internet downloads are related to porn, and every 39 minutes, there’s new content to watch.
On top of all that, and perhaps most disturbing, the word “teen” has remained in the top 10 most-searched terms in pornography over the last six years on a single site that got 33.5 billion visits in 2018 alone.
Whether Eilish knows it or not, the objectification of women — especially teenagers — is fueled by a society of people raised on pornography. And that has to change.
If you or someone you know is struggling to beat sexual sin, Faithwire has a seven-week, video-based series — Set Free — designed to give you the practical and spiritual tools necessary to kick pornography to the curb. For more information about the course, or to enroll, click here.