DRESS APPROPRIATELY? TELL US HOW

An appropriate wardrobe...let's try and pick one.

All those informed by patriarchal mindsets around rapes and molestation of women,have made Women Must Dress Appropriately to be Safe a poster tag line. Every other day,someone stands up to remind us why our bleached backs,our waxed revealed legs,our plunging blouses,open hair suggestive of sexual seduction,short dresses and transparent drapes are driving crime against women.

Odd,intimidating,discriminating,insulting and regressive it is but let’s put our cards on the table to ask what indeed is appropriate dressing? And,who decides its context and cultural message? Tick the following.

* A 15 year old girl dressed in a sari with a sleeveless blouseappropriate because it is a sari or would it imply that she is sending out premature signals of sexual promise and ‘readiness’?

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* A 50 year old (non-Botoxed) lady wearing a mini dress. Inappropriate? But why,because of the length of her dress or her age?

* If a woman’s panty line shows through a pair of fluid trousers or a dress that clings,which category does it fall into?

* A blue bra worn inside a sheer orange (the two colours most often look hideous together) shirt. Appropriate or no?

* A lady in the corporate sector wearing a gold tissue dupatta,an ornate ensemble and tinkling anklets for a client meeting. Works or no?

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* What should we wear when we swim? Should our husbands decide the style of our swimsuits,or should we decide on the basis of body type,our own ideas of comfort in revealing body,hair on the body or whether the Brazilian wax has done its swish job.

I swim everyday and some ladies who swim in the same pool say their husbands do not allow this,do not allow that. Some wear bicycle shorts beneath their swimming costumes because the husband would none have none of a proper swimsuit. Forget the bikini. Show me a 30 plus woman in a two piece bikini in a five star swimming pool and I will show you a Poodle holding a Lady Dior bag. These ladies are not even allowed to be on Facebook with their real names and photographs. They fake identities,call themselves Nile River and such and survive.

What should we wear when we sleep? Should the night dress be ankle length,or half,sleeveless or full sleeveless. Would you prefer a salwar kameez instead? Modest,no,at least till the bedroom door is locked and all hypocrisies are hidden from the world’s eye.

What should we wear when we meet our in-laws? Traditional garb,right,I get that,but just how traditional? A blouse with a plunging neckline,will that do at least?

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For the Temple,Church and Gurudwara,we mind all the cultural elegance and religious respect,but would you want to add a enslaving caution here too? Like the hair? Should we tie it up,just in case it looks too provocative to leave it open in a religious place.

While you are it,please also tell us how casually and informally should we dress before the growing male child at home and your thoughts about the dressing gown.

Is the dressing gown a modest garment that shield us from all wild eyes that may otherwise dart to forbidden places or is it too intimate? Giving the hint of intimacy,making it easy to imagine a woman naked.