General
Source: John K.Abimanyi-All Africa.com
If a woman was raped somewhere in your neighbourhood, you can bet your lunch, somebody out there will raise their vindictive finger of blame and unwaveringly, point it straight at the woman, her dressing to be exact.
While it may easily pass away as another rallying campaign for morality in Uganda, when a police officer in Toronto, Canada warned a group of girls against "dressing like sluts" lest they get raped, he instead opened a Pandora's Box that would kick-start a whole new ball game in feminist movements - the Slut Movement.
Canadian women did not take this lightly. They took to the streets, dressed like what society expects sluts to dress like in protest of the patriarchal view of blaming rape on women's dressing. Also, they sought to "redeem" the word slut.
The word 'slut' is a derogatory term, mostly used with the intention to offend, while describing a woman thought to be sexually immoral or a prostitute. As of today, the Slut Movement has had slut-walks in the US, UK, India, Australia, and yes, South Africa. Away from the buzz and bubble naturally expected from such marches, the slut-walks force back onto our tray of discussions, the issue of women's dressing; and what, if anything, men have got to do with it.
Men's dress codes have very little, if anything, to do with their sexuality. But why is it not the same for women? This issue points to the very core of the notion (still very existent today) that women are, at the end of it all, just sex symbols.
Excusing rape by citing a woman's dressing as the cause is an insult to men. It seems to suggest that men, upon seeing a woman, cannot withhold their now raging sexual advances and hence have to pounce forth.
It is in the unreasonable argument that some types of dressing, say a skimpy half-way-the-thighs skirt, will tempt men into victimising the woman. What then should we say about societies still caught in the pre-modern times of clothing, whole societies where women do not wear much more than a semblance of a bra and knickers? There is actually no universal definition on what type of female dressing will tantamount to being sexually disturbing for men. While some men find miniskirts a sexually stimulating sight, others will argue that it is the pants or long dresses that turn them on. So, should we then ban women from wearing long skirts because they let the juices flow in some lone man's loins?
But here is the clincher - in all this discussion, no woman's views are sought. It is simply one man after another trying to drive social policy basing on his sexual design. That is immorality in its very finest forms. It is time men backed off from determining what is best fit for women, especially their dressing. The sense of dress and fashion is not a science. We cannot measure what is good enough for women to wear, especially if the people measuring are men. It is not what a woman wears that informs a man's decision to seek sex but rather, the thought process inside the man's head(s).