Nakedness or Fully dressed? Who makes the choices?
by Okeny-Lucia | November 9, 2011 at 4:01 AM
It was a rough ride from my work place towards home because the rains had just poured in the city.And as is the case in the city ,the rains usually dictate the prices of commodities such as bus fare,umbrellas,gumboots name it.
So as we were frantically waiting for any means of transport to take us home after a long day,the bus attendants were shouting on top of their voices, urging us to enter or else the prices will continue to increase! It happened that a lady passed near the bus attendant who just started hurling obscene words on her dressing and cursing her feminity! The lady had been dressed in a tube jeans the ones in fashion trend now,and high boots with a smaller jacket ,a tshirt that revealed part of her lower abdomen.
As if the members the of the public would stop the attendants from shouting,we all watched and the poor lady was caught up in such an embarrased situtation that as she walked,she tried pulling down the jacket but nothing would change that.Other young people were giggling at her ,and the older lowered their gaze as if in shame.
It dawned on me that the society holds up a woman in ransom for whatever the reason,look at the advertising industries ,women on the billboards will be dressed according to what will make consumers buy fast their products! I saw one time on the Tyra Banks Show-Who is the Next Model,a young model who declined to walk down the runway under dressed,and the next thing she was fired,but in it all she had great body for a model! But who dictates what women dress? Are we the victims of circumsatnces,or violaters of cirumstances?
Whats your take on this?
Comments
media, social pressure, and self awareness
In America it seems so very obvious that dress style is determiend by the media. Styles are dictated by what movie stars and tv actors where, howeverI feel that there is a right and a wrong time to wear different styles. There are limit to properly dressing anywhere and culture and ettiquette must always be folllowed, however, as a young woman it amazes me how may young women don't understand this.
At work there is a dress code, it is the same in different countries. If you are a woman in a muslim country you wear a hijab. If you are in America skinny jeans and short shorts seem the more commen wardrobe for young women. However in different communities within America you will find those that hold value to self awareness.
If you have any pride in your self, in your body, there are other ways to show it off while still being fully clothed. I am in charge of undergraduate interns for the research project that I work on, and I pride myself that when my interns walk into the Hospital they are wearing dress slacks or suit skirt and a proper blouse. This proper attire shows that they are professional to to be taken seriously. I am alos a peer student mentor around my city and I am always surprised at how hard it is to convince some girls that they do not need to wear high heels to campus, or cake their faces with makeup, and that all they need to do is be sure of themselves and their inner beauty will shine through. But this is where we get back to the media and social pressure. Some of my mentees have grown up ina society or a family that express similar beliefs to myself and others grew up in a situation where they didn't have the support that they needed.