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Summary of Question:	Viewing Images Of Barely-Dressed Women Wrong?
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Friday, 7/09/2004 4:44 AM MDT

My name is Jasdeep Sian. I am 14yr old sikh, wanting 2 know wot is Ok, + wot is not. Plez help me. Is looking @ ladies in bikini/lingerie/bra + pants wrong. I have heard porn is, but wot bout these, as there private parts r always covered. Women r often appering in ads in a bikini or somefing. Also a TV programme u watch may hav contests where women strips down 2 swim suit or something. In movies, this is very common. If u r with ur friends and u don't look at it, they think ur gay. What shud u do? Is looking at magazines like FHM and Loaded wrong, or s it ok. Is listening 2/looking at music channels wrong. Is looking at programmes with celebrities, or reading news about celebrities wrong?

Thanks

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Sat Siri Akaal. It is very hard to avoid these images when they bombard us in pop culture through ads, billboards, TV, and non-porn magazines. Pop culture objectifies women and sex, making them appear or seem to be not people, but things or toys.
A Sikh man regards all women who are not his wife as the equivalent of his sister, aunt, or daughter. If you think about those models in the images you see as one of these relationships, then you will realize it is inappropriate to spend time viewing these images for the sake of viewing them. It is wrong to focus one's energy on these images, which is different than being unable to avoid them as you turn the page, or wait for the commercials to end. I understand the peer pressure you feel, and your response perhaps should be to not engage your mind in the images. You cannot help seeing them, perhaps, but you can help how much you let your mind return to the images. For you, perhaps pretend to view them without focusing your mind too much on the pictures. It sounds hard, but it's not, once you get the hang of it. Said differently, be in the world, but not of it. It's around you, but you don't have to let it become you. Guru ang sang,
-DKK