Shame

We know that Adam and Eve were naked "yet they felt no shame" (Genesis 2:25). However, after the fall, the first thing that they do is cover themselves--they cover those parts of themselves which spoke to the other I am a gift for you. Why? because they had shame. Shame is something felt when you know that you are being seen as an object by another (or when you know that you are seeing another as an object!). Why? because they have robbed you of your subjectivity, they have robbed you of your dignity as a person who images God in your free will, rationality and relationality. Your body, which should speak of gift, becomes the language of use. Your body is no longer something which you give to another, but rather something the other takes.

Our bodies and souls tell us that we are made to be gifts to each other. That is what it means to be human--to be a gift. If someone robs you of your gift, whether with their body or with their eyes, or with their imagination, you feel shame because you feel you have been robbed of your dignity as a person made in the image and likeness of God.