For those of you who go to church...! - Please - Understand, I AM happy for you. Anything that effects your life positively is a great and wonderful thing. But personally, I think God lives in the woods, in nature, in wide open spaces and that is where I will always feel closer to universal energy.
For some reason, though, when the Religious guy asked me, "What do you Do?" ... I answered honestly... "I am nude model. I get naked and I take photos all over the United States." He cleared his throat, "Oh, well how does that make you feel?" And I said, "When I work with honest, kind, creative people, it makes me very happy." And he said, "...But how does it feel knowing that you Help to objectify women?"..... Defensively.... I wanted to lash back at him. Personally, I feel that I am trying to empower women. I feel like I am teaching women to take their bodies back. I am not letting men or society or anyone dictate what I can or cannot do with my own body. My body is my own. Does that mean that sometimes my photos get taken out of context and people objectify me? Absolutely 💯 - But is my goal as a model to objectify women? No. I feel like a lot of objectification happens when someone views a photo and chooses not to pay attention to the context or the person behind the image.
I am a Vegetarian and when I tell a Carnivore that I am a Vegetarian, they almost always get defensive. It can be expected. They want to say ridiculous and hurtful things... like, "Cows are food, not friends." or "My food poops on your food!" Or "I love vegetables, as long as they come with a big juicy steak" - It drives me nuts! You want to eat meat!? Whatever. But being hurtful, for no reason, does not get us anywhere.
So I chose listen because arguments do not make anyone's soul feel good. So I sat there. Watching his eyes light up about Jesus. He downloaded sermons onto my Macbook. I don't know what it is but as soon as I see someone that is passionate about just anything, I am so easily drawn in by thrm. I could feel his love and his passion. It ended up being a very uplifting airport conversation that will sit with me for a long time.
17 comments:
It takes a very strong person to do what you did. I admit that a lot of times when the topic of religion comes up and the part of the conversation comes when I tell someone that I'm Pagan or see that little star hanging around my neck, I can almost see it in their eyes that they are picturing some kind of devil worshiping going on or some crazy Hollywood type stuff. When I worked at Wal-Mart I had to defend myself against wanting to wear my pentacle around my neck because I was told it was "offensive" to people. I told my manager very politely that I would gladly take it off if everyone with a cross around their neck had to take it off too considering how "offensive" their religion could be to mine. I have a belief that it is ok to believe in whatever you believe as long as you believe in SOMETHING. I guess my point is...when you take the time to actually be open with each other and be open minded enough to listen to what they are saying some amazing conversations can happen. And some amazing connections. This world could be a much more peaceful place if more people did that. Took the five extra second to think before being hurtful and open your mind instead. This is one more example of why I'm very proud to say we're friends. You have an amazing heart. The world would be a different place if we had more London Andrews in it.
LOL, awesome way to follow it up.
I grew up in a pretty strict, some would call it a "cult", religion. I initially tried my best to follow it but a few years back realized it wasn't what I believe. I'm agnostic. There's a higher power, but I have no clue what that higher power is or whether it knows I'm even here.
After telling my family and friends this it's been REALLY difficult getting them to understand that I don't hate Christians and I don't want to convince them not to follow what they believe. I feel the same, if it works for you and it's a positive influence over your life...go for it! Have a blast! In fact I encourage my Christian friends to follow what they believe with more passion. If you're gonna do it, do it with everything you've got.
Glad you had a chance to meet someone who's actually giving it his everything and fully believes what he follows. Every time I meet someone like that I'm a bit envious.
Nice start with an ice-cream to a long one-sided conversation you had. I read your post completely and after finishing read I could not be more sure that I want an ice-cream for myself now, but I am in office and I want it NOW!
I was once compared to the Nazis for being a carnivore by a vegan. I never judge people but always find myself being judged for being a carnivore, comic collector, democrat, unemployed, etc. When I was young and my heart was an open book, I used to say live and let live.
Hi Sweetie, Just remember whenever you want to come up here I will always have a Veggie dish for you even it it's only a veggie pizza! LOL
Religion is a fickle beast. Everyone has their own view like ass's.
I have friends who believe in God.
I have dyslexic friends who believe in Dog.
And I just choose to believe in Cats as they are warm and like to sit on my lap and purr....hehe.
I think there is a lot of wisdom in the words of Shepherd Book from the movie "Serenity", "I don't care what you believe, just believe in something"
just my .02$. We are here for you always.
hugs,
Doug in Joplin
I love the sentiment. It's true, passion is cherishable. But I also know that if it was me in that airport, I couldn't, wouldn't have been so generous and open as you were.
You shoulda asked him whenever he brought up God to you, would he have started a conversation with a less beautiful, busty, curvaceous, 100% beautiful, hot, sexy woman other than yourself. LOL!!! Those people are such hypocrites. I grew up in a very strict southern baptist religious household, and well, I guess it's true what they say about preachers kids. We are the worst!
Keep up the good work! I love reading your blog and viewing your beautiful and ever-increasing sexy library of work!
Also, where can we see the full versions of these pics that are featured in this post?
It will never, ever make sense to me that part of the "Christian" mission is telling other people how to live. Just blows my mind.
Anyway- the way you handled it was very mature and respectful and wonderful- the type of maturity and respect I'm sure you don't see every day. So good work!
(love the cats, by the way! I ended up keeping a stray that just showed up at my house recently! He has half a tail and a bad hip... awww... his name is BLAST-OFF!)
lol, I love this post, it reminds me of a similar experience I had (and its also how I got my name).
A while ago I got into an discussion with a guy about gays serving in the military and he was vehemently against it. Usually I'm pretty good at keeping a conversation civil and for the most part that's how this went down. He would say how gays aren't tough enough or how straight men wouldn't be comfortable fighting with them... you know the usual b.s, well this guy wasn't all that bright so countering his arguments wasn't hard but I guess he didn't like being wrong so he started to get a little heated.
He started this whole rant about how being gay is a sin and even tried to suggest I was gay for supporting them, and that's kinda when I lost my cool. I called him a few choice words I can't exactly remember (you know D-bags, assholes, all that good stuff) but I ended by calling him a bigot and saying he should go worship his gay hating, magical zombie carpenter off in some cave away from civilized society (not my best moment)and of course he retaliated with the usual gay bashing and hateful slurs but by then I was done with the conversation. While that whole argument was going down my friend was there with me laughing his ass off and from that point on any time he heard the name Jesus he would shout out "Magic Zombie Carpenter" and we would both start laughing.
I'll admit the name it a little offensive to Christians, but hell sometime being a little offensive is fun... in moderation
oh and to Delmo, screw anybody who judges you for collecting comics, we comic book geeks gotta stick together
MZC
Perhaps telling him, when he made the assumption that you
"help to objectify women in the porn industry", that you celebrate the beauty that has been granted us during our time on this lovely planet might have left him with a little to think about.... Because, that seems to be the place that you're coming from and I think it would be a chance to expand his horizons....
London, this comment has nothing to do with your modeling at all. i just want to clarify some things about you saying that the "christians killed millions of people".
i do believe you are talking about the christian crusades that happened in the years of 1095 and ended in 1291.
please read...
The crusades have provided some of the most frequent arguments against the Christian faith. Some Islamic terrorists even claim that their terrorist attacks are revenge for what Christians did in the crusades. So, what were the crusades and why are they viewed as such a big problem for the Christian faith?
First of all, the crusades should not be referred to as the “Christian crusades.” Most of the people involved in the crusades were not truly Christians, even though they claimed to be. The name of Christ was abused, misused, and blasphemed by the actions of many of the crusaders. Second, the crusades took place from approximately A.D. 1095 to 1230. Should the unbiblical actions of supposed Christians hundreds of years ago still be held against Christians today?
Third, not that this is an adequate excuse, but Christianity is not the only religion with a violent past. In actuality, the crusades were responses to Muslim invasions on what was once land occupied primarily by Christians. From approximately A.D. 200 to 900, the land of Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey was inhabited primarily by Christians. Once Islam became powerful, Muslims invaded these lands and brutally oppressed, enslaved, deported, and even murdered the Christians living in those lands. In response, the Roman Catholic Church and “Christian” kings/emperors from Europe ordered the crusades to reclaim the land the Muslims had taken. The actions that many so-called Christians took in the crusades were still deplorable. There is no biblical justification for conquering lands, murdering civilians, and destroying cities in the name of Jesus Christ. At the same time, Islam is not a religion that can speak from a position of innocence in these matters.
To summarize briefly, the crusades were attempts in the 11th through 13th centuries A.D. to reclaim land in the Middle East that had been conquered by Muslims. The crusades were brutal and evil. Many people were forced to “convert” to Christianity. If they refused, they were put to death. The idea of conquering a land through war and violence in the name of Christ is completely unbiblical. Many of the actions that took place in the crusades were completely antithetical to everything the Christian faith stands for.
How can we respond when, as a result of the crusades, the Christian faith is attacked by atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and those of other religions? We can respond in the following ways: 1) Do you want to be held accountable for the actions of people who lived 900+ years ago? 2) Do you want to be held accountable for the actions of everyone who claims to represent your faith? Trying to blame all of Christianity for the crusades is analogous to blaming all Muslims for Islamic terrorism.
i respect your choice of being a nude model. and i am a admirer of nude/artistic modeling and yet im also a christian. that preacher probably thinks that nudity equals sex. that is fine for him to think that but i also would have corrected him by saying nudity does not equal sex and show him my AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NUDE RECREATION CARD!
keep up the great work you do.
thanks
Well, all I can say is that I do believe in God. After all, who except God could make someone as beautiful as you are London? That objectify remark does make me wonder sometimes, though, because I tend to see most of your work as a celebration of the female form, but I have often wished to know the person behind the pretty eyes. I would never want to turn you into nothing more than a body, no matter how beautiful!! I think it would be fun just to sit and talk with you like that and I wish I had been the one sitting there in that airport that day!!
what a wonderful world it would be if every one would just except others as they were with out comment or damnation. if you like it enjoy it if you dont then leave it.set your own rules not mine. i am and omnivore like the bear i eat anything i want i go to church sometimes,i like to look at curvey girls and shoot guns.my life my rules your life your rules see easy.
Wow you didn't put him on front street?! That was a pretty stand up thing to do. The Universe would be proud, morally that was the bigger thing to do. I'm pretty sure that whatever it/he/she is that is in charge or created us was hoping a few morally correct human beings would have come out of the crackpot. Nice job Mrs. Andrews
What you didn't know is that you saved human kind from extinction from the alien scientist that created us that was just about to destroy us and start over.
I just stumbled on to your Blog: it's great. Really insightful post, London. That was a very benevolent move you made by letting the preacher express his condescending yet weirdly inspirational views. Stay Awesome and Stay Winning !
Post a Comment