INDIAN LOGIC: "OH, SHE WEARS A MINISKIRT? SHE MUST BE PROMISCUOUS!"

Indian society is always too quick to judge an Indian woman by her dressing sense.

"If she wears a spaghetti string top, she's a slut!" "Why is she showing publicly what she only should show her husband?" "We're Indians, not western people, so have some shame!"

The above are comments passed at girls who are comfortable in showing their skin.

And then, there are such questions I've heard from moral policing men and see how I counter them.

"The Indian culture is fading, and they call it civilization. How would you feel if your sisters and mothers dress scantily and have men ogling at them?"

Ogling is a choice - men and women can CHOOSE WHETHER TO OGLE OR NOT. You are asking that can guys take it if their sisters and mothers are ogled by men. My contention, why don't men think of scantily clad women as their sisters and mothers and suppress their libido? Not all women who cover their bodies up are sanctimonious women and not all women who wear miniskirts are promiscuous and slutty. Why look solely at the woman's dressing preference and judge? Doesn't she have her own character and convictions? We have a photo of my great grandma wearing saree without jacket, dating back to the 1940s. Indian culture is not fading; it's evolving. Sati, the burning of a widow alive in her deceased husband pyre is no longer in practice now. Why? It is because it is barbaric and doesn't sit well with upcoming times. Indian culture will be extant as long as Indians exist and change is the only constant thing, even when it comes to conforming to a certain culture.

"Girls, if you wanna wear saree, wear it like how its supposed to be worn, like how it was worn in the olden days!"

My great grandma and her mother didn't wear the jacket for saree in their time of living. And, it's damn revealing - armpit, shoulder and waist showing, but no Indian men bat an eyelid at them. Rape cases were literally unheard of in those days. Going by the logic in the question, I suppose Indian men became perverts as time progressed The fault is not in the dressing; the fault is in the perceiving mind! All you want is cultural dressing styles isn't it? So, encourage your family girls to go back to 1950s, where women didn't wear saree blouses and just wrapped the saree around their bodies.

"Tell me which guy doesn't get horny or at least take a glance at a woman who wears like the above picture or really exposing dresses?"

If you think this is arousing, if you went to India 200 years ago you'd be walking around with a constant hard-on. Women in Western countries wear bikini and rape cases are low there. IRONY. See, sometimes, for men, the more women conceal their body the more men want to see it and rape occurs due to that. That explains why burqa clad women are viciously sexually assaulted. I'd like to stress time again, that the perversion lies in the male mind, not in the women's dressing style. Women are deemed as the weaker sex, men, the powerful sex so why don't you show your power by controlling your sexual urge? Take scantily clad women as tests to contain your testosterone surge. Are you game?

"Why should something you should be showing to your future husband to the whole world by wearing skimpy, see through dresses? Don't these girls feel ashamed when all eyes are staring at them?"

This above picture speaks for itself. It is not the dressing. It is the mentality and the inability to control one's erection at the presence of a woman, all covered up or naked for that matter!! Risk of being eve teased does not reduce when women cover themselves up. I wore a long sleeved shirt and a long skirt uniform in secondary school and was almost always clad in loose T shirts and jeans when I go out in my teen years - that did not stop men from groping me in crowded public buses and me being whistled, followed, stalked and stared at! Lewd commentary regarding my physique and threats when I didn't respond to their advances were issued too and I was in my school uniform when all that happened. So can we say my school uniform was skimpy?

"Why do women like to show skin when they dress up?"

Freedom of choice, freedom to dress as women want. Who are you to dictate that women should only dress in a certain way or behave in a certain way? Emancipation, rights - like how you can choose to have chapati or pizza for dinner. It is all about mindset. Men should learn to control their organs else, it will go up just by taking a glimpse of a pole that has been wound up by a saree. (An equation Tamil movies liberally use) The gender is all that matters, not the dressing, not even age. 3 months old girl babies are raped. That is as sick as it can get!! Are you telling me that eve teasing, rape, and men staring at women and sexual harassment will stop if all women wear the burqa and cover their hands with gloves and wear socks to cover their feet for good measure? If you can guarantee it, I'll ditch my body hugging tops and tight jeans and wear the burqa. Challenge? 

Why do women have to show skin? Why take such a risk? To get attention and a bad name? 

Why do women even exist? It's a big risk right for them to right?- based on your logic. Women wearing the burqa are raped, women who show skin also are raped. The way to stop rape is not telling women to cover up their bodies - rapes can be made non inherent if only men respect the choices women make and see them as fellow human beings, not as sex objects.

There are progressive Indians (who are pro progress and very comfortable with modernization and such) , the neutralites (who are OK with anything) and the extremists like those who posed such questions above, who would be more than delighted to drag us back a couple of decades back, and out of brick homes and into tree houses and caves.

And nothing will change them, except a nice migration/learning trip to Iran/Saudi Arabia/North Korea.

Can't help if you have a preconceived notion that all girls who show skin are sluts

I was molested when I was 7 and then at 10 years old. What skin I was showing then? How sexy I was then? It is merely because I'm a female who fell into the trap of perverted opportunists.

This is why I get absolutely infuriated when people say "Oh, she wears a miniskirt? She must be promiscuous!" I suppose such people are omniscient! THEY KNOW EVERYTHING! 

I also get outraged when people say, "She dresses like a vamp so she deserves being raped. She asked for it!" A lame pretext to justify perversion!!!

We live in a society where women are told to dress modestly to avoid rape and when they are raped, despite dressing modestly, women are still blamed for rape.

Related articles:

- Virginity - A question of girls' morality?
- I'm a dark skinned Indian girl, problem?
- Disobedient women: So it's right to kill them?
- Sordid Indian male mentality
- How Hindu mythology contribute to rape in India
- Rape: She asked for it! Oh really?

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