Skirting the issue!
Last month the French Parliament witnessed the whistling and heckling of woman MP Cecile Duflot, and no, it was not about her speech about a new metropolitan plan for the Paris region...it was because she was wearing a knee-length dress. A very non risque dress I must add! Apparently former French Sports Minister Chantal Jouanno last year admitted to not wearing skirts to parliament for fear of being teased! Last month our very own Chairperson of the National Commission for Women was quoted asking girls to dress 'appropriately' and refrain from wearing 'provocative' clothes!
What is the pre-occupation with what a women wears and what in lords name does it have to do with the way the men behave? Is the dress truly the issue? Why cant a woman dress the way she wants to? Why ridicule her or commodify her if she dares to dress differently? Must a woman be apologetic for wanting to dress the way she wants to? Why ask the woman to cover up? And is the issue really about clothes? Or are we talking about attitudes?
Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, Eve Ensler's "My Short Skirt" from the Vagina Monologues shouts aloud with those lines that ring so true everytime anyone talks about 'dressing appropriately'! The lines go like this "My short skirt is not an invitation, a provocation, an indication that I want it or give it or that I hook. My short skirt is not begging for it, it does not want you to rip it off me, or pull it down. My short skirt is not a legal reason for raping me although it has been before, it will not hold up in the new court."
What is the pre-occupation with what a women wears and what in lords name does it have to do with the way the men behave? Is the dress truly the issue? Why cant a woman dress the way she wants to? Why ridicule her or commodify her if she dares to dress differently? Must a woman be apologetic for wanting to dress the way she wants to? Why ask the woman to cover up? And is the issue really about clothes? Or are we talking about attitudes?
Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, Eve Ensler's "My Short Skirt" from the Vagina Monologues shouts aloud with those lines that ring so true everytime anyone talks about 'dressing appropriately'! The lines go like this "My short skirt is not an invitation, a provocation, an indication that I want it or give it or that I hook. My short skirt is not begging for it, it does not want you to rip it off me, or pull it down. My short skirt is not a legal reason for raping me although it has been before, it will not hold up in the new court."
Its so disusting aint it...that what women wear becomes a judge of thier character and what how the men behave upon seeing the way a woman dresses becomes altogether the woman's fault and has no bearing on the man's character at all!!
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