'Your skirt is too short'
'Your skirt is too short'. I'm sure it's a phrase many of us are familiar with- from high school, parents, or even friends. If not this, maybe it's something similar- 'your bra strap is showing', or 'your top is too low cut'. Have you ever, at the times when people have told you this, turned around asked why? I guess not. I certainly hadn't even thought about it until recently, I'd just tug my skirt down a bit, and keep walking, maybe grumble a little, but never actually considering the implications of what they were saying to me.
Imagine you were to ask- you'd probably get a reply of 'it's inappropriate', or 'it's against the school rules', and in pushing it a bit further you would probably get a reply like 'it's distracting to boys'.
Now I have nothing against boys. As a feminist I believe in utter equality in the way men and women are treated, which is why I feel this matters so much. Don't misunderstand me- that would be the worst thing that could happen. But surely, as a woman, my life should not be defined by what men think of me. If a man gets distracted by the fact that a bit of my leg above my knee is showing, surely that isn't my problem. I don't want to distract them obviously, but surely by making rules that school skirts should go down to our knees, schools in particular are conforming to a view that for some reason, legs are sexually attractive. The more enforced the rule to cover up our legs become, the more curious people will get. The fact legs have become almost an out of bounds area means that women can't feel comfortable exposing as much or as little of their body as they want to in their older lives, and men will be more attracted by a woman who is, in the eyes of schools, breaking the rules- instead of being able to treat women as equals, who, get this, have legs.
The same thing is true of boobs. I mean seriously- how much less sexual can you get than two pieces of fat and muscle attached to the chest, which women develop in puberty to feed children? The adult attraction, is, in all honesty, pretty weird. So why should it matter if you can see the parts of the body that are utterly natural, and for feeding a baby? Answer: it shouldn't. But people continue to frown upon women who wear low cut tops, or no tops altogether. Even people who breastfeed in public have been asked to cover themselves up- possibly the most natural thing in the world, but you know what, some person seems to believe a nipple may be a danger to society. Coincidentally, have you ever considered that movies with a man without a top can be rather U (or G) but in most cases it's a 15 (R) as soon as someone sees a woman's nipple? Ridiculous? I think so.
So you think we live in a world of equal rights? I invite you to think again. Thank you.
origamiaround
blakekathryn
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