Slut Walk, Personal Freedom and Appropriate Dressing

I am surprised at the clarity that some people attain on complex issues.  I am also surprised at their ability to reduce any issue into US vs YOU or WE vs THEY conflicts, leaving no space that can be described as the middle ground.  I pity myself for continuing to be confused on most of these issues....  But with the belief that I am not alone and that I represent a number of people, who prefer to remain confused rather than taking premature positions based on prejudices, I will continue to record my confusions in these Thoughts!

Taslima Nasreen tweeted on the Delhi Slut Walk; “I'm proud of those men who joined Delhi's #SlutWalk and am ashamed of women who didn't join the campaign against rape & violence”. 

To suggest that one should be ashamed of all those women who didn’t join the slut walk or that those women were somehow supporting or condoning rape and violence is taking the WE vs THEY logic a little too far.  Can’t a woman have the right to be against rape & violence and the slut walk at the same time? 

 It was on January 24, 2011 that the Toronto Police Officer Michael Sanguinetti stated in a crime prevention forum: "women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized”. There is no doubt that this statement is highly deplorable. These words amounted to blaming the victims for a crime committed on them.  It is another example of the “Leaf and Thorn” prejudices that make women responsible for all the sexual violence inflicted upon them and exonerate the perpetuators!  Michael subsequently apologised for his remarks.

However, with active support from social media, many activists decided to use this as an occasion to destroy the prejudices against women in matters of sexual violence.  The first slut walk took place in Toronto on April 3, 2011.  It was followed by similar marches in many parts of the world. It has now reached India with the first such walk already completed in New Delhi and more being planned for other cities as well.

I respect the right of all the participants of these walks.  They have a right to express their opinion in a way that they think is effective.  Also, these walks have succeeded in bringing attention to the prejudices of the societies.  However, these walks were not without any opposition.  Many people objected to it on the ground that such walks in which participants were expected to be scantily dressed are against the culture.  I wouldn’t go into details of these contrarian views here.  Suffice to say I have nothing against the concept or method of slut walks as a means of protest against a deep rooted prejudice.

Let us consider the more fundamental issue of dressing ‘properly’. I, being a votary of personal freedom, am against any external prescription as to one’s dressing style.  I believe each person has a right to decide how he or she wants to live and that includes as to how he or she wants to dress.  If the society starts prescribing the standards, then it won’t be long before such standards end up in Burkhas or veils or similar requirements.   Today the society may demand that the woman stop dressing like a ‘slut’; tomorrow it may demand that the woman should dress in a specific manner and later may ask them to cover their entire body and face under some veils.  One may say that I am exaggerating here.  Well, I may be, but history shows otherwise!

When we say that every person should have the right to decide what he or she should wear, are we suggesting that the freedom is absolute?  No; personal freedoms, like any other freedom, are not absolute. Right to dress does not amount to right not to dress.  Any Freedom that is not tempered with responsibility is a sure recipe for disaster. In a public place, therefore the right to dress needs to be exercised subject to the prevailing laws and customs of that place.

‘Indecent’ dressing could definitely attract unwanted attention. In a country like India, if one walks around skimpily dressed, it is most likely that people will stare, even though all those who are staring may not be criminals and may not harass the woman beyond the staring. Without going into the criminality of the staring itself, I would only state, as a matter of fact, that in today’s India if you are skimpily dressed you got to expect stares. There is no wishing away that fact for at least some time, though that should not condone people like Delhi Police Chief BK Gupta from abdicating their responsibility for providing security to the women in public places.

That brings us to the third aspect of this post- what is appropriate dressing?  Well in my opinion, there are no set standards for appropriate dressing. It depends on the taste of individuals and the society.  What is appropriate for one person or society may not be appropriate for another person or society, as the case may be.  However, if one cares for appropriate dressing, it is very easy to decide. 

There is no point in wishing away the fact that nakedness does attract the attention of opposite sex. If a young girl is wearing a micro mini or a very deep cut t-shirt, not many men will be able to completely disregard that.  How one will react to that will depend on person to person.  A man with normal values may just give a glance and move on but a criminal may try to take it further than that.  Irrespective of how the viewer reacts and the culpability or otherwise of that viewer, when a girl knows that her nakedness is bound to attract attention why should she dress in such a way if she doesn’t want to attract such attention?  This is a question to which I have no answer!  But my commonsense suggests that when one knows that dressing in a particular way is likely to attract unwanted attention in a particular context, then one should avoid that dressing for that context.  One is not expected to dress in the same manner for a dance bar and a visit to say, the nearby temple!   

Like I said in the beginning, I have no hard positions on any of the aspects discussed above.  I have just stated my confused thoughts here with the expectation that this post may invite readers’ perspectives and that will throw more light on the issues!