Indecent dressing among women

By Nasiru Lawal Abubakar

Ordinarily, clothes are meant to cover our nudity. But for many women – and men I must quickly add – clothes for them are meant to do otherwise. i.e. expose as much flesh as possible. In fact it sometimes make me wonder, why put on clothes when your aim is to expose rather than to cover?

Though, only God knows the fate of the bill against indecent dressing at the Upper Legislative Chamber of the National Assembly, it was a good thing that the idea was even proposed. It showed that out Senators see the trend as disturbing and therefore worth discussing.

For us here in Nigeria, one can say without any fear of contradiction that indecent dressing is a foreign idea that has no origin in our culture. Hausa, Yoruba and Ibo all have their respective and respectful idea of what constitutes good clothing, and walking half naked is not one of them.

Indeed, it is heart-warming to see tertiary institutions in Nigeria – in both the Northern and Southern part of the country – coming up with acceptable modes of dressing. This to a large extent differentiated our higher institutions of learning from brothels.

Dress code, as popularly called, was introduced in schools to curb the irritating trend of indecent dresses on campuses. The Abia State University passed a bill of conduct admitting only students decently dressed in unprovocative, formal, and traditional attires that do not expose, suggest, or give away the contours of sensitive parts of the body.

The Lagos State University on its part turned down the application form of some new students for dressing immorally. At the Federal University of Technology, Minna, short and skimpy dresses were banned, so also others such as show-me-your-back/chest/stomach, body hugs, spaghetti wears, and other tights and dresses exposing sensitive parts.

Other forms of provocative wears banned include shorts that are above the knees (except for sporting purposes), tattered jeans with holes, transparent and see-through dresses, tight-fitting jeans, skirts, etc., that reveal the contours of the body.

Unfortunately, the trend is spreading like wildfire across the globe. According to Henry Makow, Ph.D., women in the Middle East are losing their religion and culture, exchanging the burka for a bikini. “For me, the burka represents a woman's consecration to her husband and family. Only they see her. It affirms the privacy, exclusivity and importance of the domestic sphere.

“In contrast, the bikinied American beauty queen struts practically naked in front of millions on TV. A feminist, she belongs to herself. In practice, paradoxically, she is public property. She belongs to no one and everyone. She shops her body to the highest bidder. She is auctioning herself all of the time.

It is unfortunate African girls now believe that will be loved only if they give sex. Thus, they now learn to "hook up" rather than to demand patient courtship and true love. As a result, dozens of males know her before her husband does. She loses her innocence, which is a part of her charm. She becomes hardened and calculating. Unable to love, she is unfit to receive her husband's seed.”

In a nutshell, what our sisters need to know is that exposing their body does not portray them as being smart. In fact, a village girl that had never seen the four walls of school may be blessed with better hips, breasts and other points of attraction more than the so-called educated urban ladies.