Why does everybody worry about what dress a woman should wear and how it should be worn. I am not even talking about burkini, which has been banned in several towns in France. As a woman was asked not to wear the swimwear in the French town of Nice, I thank my stars that I was not asked to change on the same beach many years ago.
During my first visit to Europe, my friend and I paired a salwar-kameez with warm wear as we went sight-seeing early in the chilly morning. As the sun rose, we started feeling warm, but it was convenient to wear the warm clothes rather than carry them around.
We stepped on to the cobbled beach where quite a few ladies in the water and quite a few sunbathing were in various states of undress. There we were shamelessly overdressed and being stared at.
Okay, that was in Europe. In our hot country, where we should be dressing down to stay cool, the police may not enforce a dress code, but people — even women — do.
In some religious places, at the entrance for women, self-ordained minders — again women — police what you wear and make you cover up with your pallus or shawls. I have never understood what this act means.
Is it to make women look and feel more pious and modest?
Men too at the receiving end
In some temples, men are not allowed to wear shirts and pants, but only dhothis. I am talking about many temples in Kerala, you must have guessed. When some men show up with bodies that resemble the female form, is that not immodest? Or obscene even?
Why should so many restrictions be placed on devotees, who come to a religious place just to pray? God, who created us, never made rules. It’s the narrow human mind which thinks of narrowing the freedom of all around them as this power they wield gives them a kick.
See how women are fighting for their right to enter “men-only” areas of places of worship in Maharashtra and how the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala is going to witness a struggle to allow women in the 10-50 age group into its precincts.
Some women’s hostels enforce dress codes. Teachers are supposed to be in saris and students should be “decently dressed”. Once a student told me that it was quite possible to dress not so decently in a sari! I agree.
Now trending
I cannot but comment on the latest fashions for women and men which have transparent covering on revealing dresses below.
They are snipped for slits and for openings in every part and angle to reveal the whole body. Why should that transparent cover be there at all?
When I look at the dress code in sports and games, I wonder why men are so well covered and women have to wear skimpy clothes. Does it make them achieve better? In beach volleyball, women wear bikinis and men long knickers. Both play the same game.
An evolution
Even among sprinters, women wear something resembling innerwear; Indian sprinters, however, wear shorts. Who has started this evolution? Perhaps, this is a sure bet for winning gold.
Even in films, women actors are skimpily dressed, while men are fully covered. Funnily, this rule is followed even in cold countries such as Switzerland and in ice skating. You might think that I’m old fashioned. Perhaps, I am, but I just want to know if women have made these decisions for themselves or are they truly man-made . The choice is the individual’s, but the vision is for the viewer.
malathimohan00@yahoo.com
