Should men dictate what their women wear?

By ADAM vs EVE
Published March 24, 2010

EVE says: My attire, my body, my prerogative!

You might have witnessed this scenario in the streets of Nairobi. A lady walks minding her own business before a ‘flock’ of men descend on her, undress her to nudity, claiming she is indecently dressed, leaving her humiliated and embarrassed.

The same hooligans watch pornography and music videos of skimpily dressed women, as they whistle and cheer lustfully- their loathing of indecency is usually selective. What is indecent here is not a woman’s mode of dressing, but the men’s rotten minds. Men should not feel entitled to a woman’s body, to the point of dictating how much to expose or cover cover up. This is an individual right and should be respected.

It works both ways. If a woman is uncomfortable wearing any outfit, she should be allowed to cover up as she so wishes. If she does not subscribe to long frocks, that is her prerogative, married or not!

Long before we heard of names like Gap, Gucci, Armani and D&G, traditional African men and women were clad only in a long piece of cloth, pleated and knotted to cover their loins. All women, even in aristocracy, were bare-breasted. Given this state, what did men do about such ‘provocation?’ Men at the time respected women’s bodies. Today, men are morally degraded, and they see women through lustful eyes. Dictating how women should dress is enslavement.

Hiding the woman’s figure from the eyes of a man, cannot save him from sin. This is because the stumbling block isn’t how women dress; it is men using it as their excuse to “stumble.” Imagine dating a man who expects you to cover up from head to toe, then another who expects you to expose yourself to his liking? This technically makes you a pawn. For how long would this go on?

When men want their women to don outfits not too bold to attract attention, it is because to them, a woman’s existence is limited to the private sphere. And this is the part which I consider at odds with one’s individual rights; not the dress in itself, but the underlying desire to make women exist exclusively in the private, controlled and submissive. Unacceptable!

ADAM replies: Indecent exposure by Eve

This scenario is replayed daily in music, TV channels and lurid videos in matatus: women who are not badly dressed, indecently exposed, and honestly a disgrace to the women folk. As one elderly woman sagely observed: how come the men in these videos are never indecent? Why aren’t they in their underwears? Why don’t men expose their ‘cleavages’ i.e. part testis to tease women? Why don’t they wear tight trousers to advertise their weapons of mass destruction?

Why don’t women dress their young daughters in these sexy trendy clothes? What happened to that little angel who dressed in long flowing dresses (surprisingly bought by mothers not badly and indecently dressed) to steal the hearts of many?

Something is seriously wrong with women, when they hit puberty and lose control of their emotions and destiny. Exit the innocent pony tailed angel who dazzled with her smiles, dressing and speech.Enter a monster with an attitude, spiky hair, a fake twang, atrocious dress styles: mini skirts that rival thongs, cleavage revealing tops (some cleavages have more spaces between them than a bow-legged kid), thin and tight trousers that look like soda straws, multi-layered powdered face, nose twitching perfumes, and BAD WEAVES….. The list is endless.

These women need help. Serious help, unfortunately not from their own women folk. As the wahengas nenad: “mganga hajigangui,” loosely translated as women can only be helped and saved by MAN. Ever asked yourself why women dress for men, seek their approval, take men’s comments more serious than their fellow women’s, prefer male hairdressers and gym instructors? The answer, my friend, lies with a simple logical control button – MAN- without which women would be rudderless, wild and loose.

Cleavage: that Eve has great and appealing boobs should be left to her Adam in the secrecy of their abode. Exposing that cleavage to thousands of men on a daily basis calls for punitive measures, so Adam prescribes a pull neck to be worn at all times.

Tubes should be reserved for toothpaste not clothes.

Hairstyle. Well, this is not an item of clothing but from the way women dress, a veil, specifically a nun’s veil should be recommended. At least the women’s guild have taken cue by wearing colourful and attractive head gears.

There you go Eve. If you are going to dress for yourself, go ahead and put on anything that comes. But as long as you are going to dress to impress Adams, sorry girl, Adam will have no choice but to determine your attire. And what an attire that will be: ankle length dresses, ankle length underwears, and ankle length petticoats. Just ask our religious brothers, and they will tell you that a woman’s body is sacred and needs no needless exposure.

Related Posts