What is it about the sight, or even the idea about women wearing jeans that causes so many to become so very agitated? Sure there are completely different societal expectations from men and from women. But it is more than that. There is something about jeans that is seen as modern and assertive; which is why jeans have become a sort of symbol of much that people disapprove of women doing and thinking. But apart from the symbolic, there are some very specific problems people have with women in jeans:
Not too long ago, Human Resource Development Satyapal Singh (of the no-one-saw-ape-turning-into-man-so-evolution-is-wrong fame) expressed his disapproval for jeans. According to him, no man “will be ready to marry a girl who comes to the mandap in jeans.” He said nothing about what the man would have to do to get the girl to agree, but I digress. He was trying to make a point about ‘appropriate’ clothing before a group of students he was addressing. So in Singh’s world, not only do women have to dress a certain way to conform to societal expectations, they also have to tailor their thoughts, actions and of course dress so that a “boy will be ready to marry” them because what possible ambition could a girl have in life than to marry someone who ‘approves’ of her?
In a culture where victim blaming is a way of life, it is always women who are required to mind what they wear. Women have to do this so that men are not ‘tempted’ or ‘led astray’ or ‘lured’ or whatever it is that is supposed to happen to men who are presumably devoid of all self-control or volition. Our political leaders seem particularly concerned about. So Abu Azmi of UP feels that women should be punished for rape and that they are to be blamed if molested! Then Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara felt that women who dress like ‘westerners’ get harassed.
Politician and activist Asha Mirje had famously asked whether Nirbhaya really needed to be out so late with a friend; and also opined that clothes, behaviour and presence at certain places are the reasons behind rapes.
A Mumbai college principal also wants women to be in ‘suitable attire’ because when they ‘dress like men’, all manner of misfortune befalls them such as PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). Mannish clothing apparently causes women to “think like men” (whatever that means), which in turn causes them to “lose the urge to reproduce at later stage in life.”
Now jeans are pretty much standard attire for female and male college students: durable, versatile, low maintenance. But they seem to rile some people inordinately; many college authorities prohibit jeans being worn by female students; sometimes male students as well. In UP, hundreds of government and aided colleges have instructed teachers to dress modestly and give up jeans and t-shirts so that students follow suit. More recently, they did this in Rajasthan as well. Jeans will be out, uniforms will be introduced.
So according to our politicians, women’s clothing is responsible for most of the problems in our society, but this guy takes it to a whole other level. He believes that women who wear jeans give birth to transgenders and autistic children. This innocuous and benign looking person appears to have some fiercely bizarre ideas about women in jeans. According to Dr Ranjith Kumar, a Kerala professor, his views on women who wear jeans are based on ‘science’ and ‘experience’. Apart from his breathtakingly bizarre ideas it is also strange that he sees fit to bracket transgender people with autistic people. Strange, but understandable. The offensive ideas people such as those listed above spout are usually born out of ignorance. The only sensible thing to do is to try not to react to such statements… sensible but difficult.
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