Do women in short dresses ‘ask for it’?
On rape, short skirts and patriarchy
What do miniskirts, booty shorts and low rise jeans have in common with rape? With the uproar that arose in India and the region, following the Delhi Gang Rape, which drew the kind of attention that issues of rape and sexual violence do not generally receive in this part of the world, also gave rise to a classic victim-blaming style counter-movement that propounded that women, by way of dressing in a certain way, or staying out past a certain time at night etc. incite the sexual violence brought upon. I took to the streets in Colombo on a sunny Friday afternoon to ask the passers-by what they felt.
Thennakoon (39) is a security guard at a state-run corporation adjacent to the Independence Square. He agrees that it’s easier being a man in this society than otherwise, but doesn’t understand why women choose to wear revealing and ‘provoking’ dresses. “I would understand if there was a shortage of fabric. But there is no such shortage. A woman should know how to dress in a decent manner. Yesterday there was an event at this office and some women were wearing disgusting clothes. Men have feelings too. So, women need to take necessary precautions.”
We walked along the path leading to Independence Square when we met Soorya (short for Sooryalakshmi) she was 47. She worked for the Colombo Municipal Council cleaning staff. Soorya thinks it’s much difficult being a woman in today’s world. “We have to work in the kitchen, do the washing and cleaning and also find money for the family”. But she added that women should ensure their own security, to this end, she said, women should not dress in a way that might provoke a man.
Dharshana, Pradeep and Ranjan were seated on the grass in a circle and were going through some notes. They were third year students of Faculty of Science at the Colombo University. Apologizing for intruding, we posed our question to them. They all felt that even though certain instances of abuse exist, the situation of women in general has vastly improved. Dharshana felt that wearing short dresses has made some men feel ‘those women are like prostitutes’. He added that Sri Lanka is a country with a proud history and culture and our women should dress accordingly. Ranjan, however, seemed to differ. “Fashion evolves with time and women should be given the safe freedoms as men. Whatever the way women choose to dress maybe, men should control their emotions,” he said.
Dharshana, Pradeep and Ranjan were seated on the grass in a circle and were going through some notes. They were third year students of Faculty of Science at the Colombo University. Apologizing for intruding, we posed our question to them. They all felt that even though certain instances of abuse exist, the situation of women in general has vastly improved. Dharshana felt that wearing short dresses has made some men feel ‘those women are like prostitutes’. He added that Sri Lanka is a country with a proud history and culture and our women should dress accordingly. Ranjan, however, seemed to differ. “Fashion evolves with time and women should be given the safe freedoms as men. Whatever the way women choose to dress maybe, men should control their emotions,” he said.
We also met Priyantha, hurriedly walking from one office building to another with a large stack of files with the state emblem. He worked at a government department located along the road. He felt that women today have a much better place in society than men. “Even in our department, women have a much better place than men. Sometimes women get jobs simply because they are women.” When we questioned him as to why then issues such as sexual harassment of women still exist in our society he said “it’s the woman’s fault. They wear short dresses and arouse men’s feelings. Be honest, putha, when a good looking girl is wearing short stuff like that wouldn’t you will feel like turning to take a second look?” We told him, that doesn’t mean we have a right to rape someone. But he went on “My mother didn’t even put her washed clothes out in the garden to dry up. That’s how women those days were”.
Sujith (43) is a trishaw driver. You’d see his red and brown Bajaj parked adjacent to a popular night club in Colombo city. Sujith finds it appalling that sexual abuse still takes place in our society. He thinks that rape is unacceptable and that skirts are not the problem. He believes that “as times are changing new fashions come up and kids like to keep up with these trends”. He sees nothing wrong with this. In fact he believes that if short skirts are banned, rape cases may even increase, as men who get some kind of pleasure by seeing women in these dresses may get even more deprived and frustrated!
Chathuni, an undergraduate following double degrees in Economics and Law thinks that short or otherwise, revealing clothes invite rape is neither fair by men nor women. She said it makes men appear incapable or controlling themselves.
Stephanie Siriwardena who won the Miss Sri Lanka contest in 2011 and who is also thinks that we were asking the wrong question. “We tend to focus on the shortness of the dress rather than focus on the shallowness of intention in men perpetrating these crimes,” she said. I also spoke to Shahidar (23) who while being a very passionate activist, has been a hijabi most of her life. She said each man was responsible for his own behaviour. “Although I think a short skirt will desensitise a man’s reaction towards a woman, her rights cannot be violated.”
Stephanie Siriwardena who won the Miss Sri Lanka contest in 2011 and who is also thinks that we were asking the wrong question. “We tend to focus on the shortness of the dress rather than focus on the shallowness of intention in men perpetrating these crimes,” she said. I also spoke to Shahidar (23) who while being a very passionate activist, has been a hijabi most of her life. She said each man was responsible for his own behaviour. “Although I think a short skirt will desensitise a man’s reaction towards a woman, her rights cannot be violated.”
The stereotypical sequences of events that lead to rape are often the same. A woman is walking down a dark alley, by herself, in a short dress. But facts show, that often the situation is much more complex: more often than not, perpetrators are not strangers but people very close to the victim. Rape sometimes occurs in broad daylight and often victims are not supposedly ‘attractive’ women clad in ‘provoking’ clothes. We’ve seen and heard of instances when the victims were older women: sometimes grandmothers in their late 70s and 80s, and sometimes pre-puberty children as young as five or six. These old women and kids have clearly not been wearing ‘provoking’ dresses.
But that is all beside the point, drunk, alone at night or wearing a short skirt: rape is never the victim’s fault. City planning is not only about fancy jogging tracks and exuberant restaurants; it’s also about making cities safer for our women and girls. Perhaps the greatest need of the day is a change of attitudes about how we look at these issues.
Some names have been changed.
- The nation newspaper -
But that is all beside the point, drunk, alone at night or wearing a short skirt: rape is never the victim’s fault. City planning is not only about fancy jogging tracks and exuberant restaurants; it’s also about making cities safer for our women and girls. Perhaps the greatest need of the day is a change of attitudes about how we look at these issues.
Some names have been changed.
Category: Documentary, Local
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