"Don’t Tell Me How to Dress": An Influential Movement to Empower Women
The cases of sexual harassment
are multiplying day-by-day. What’s more horrifying is that it is turning into a
stigma for the society, yet people are not vocal about it. As per a report
published by India Today on its online portal, nearly 88% of women living in
Delhi experienced sexual assault in their lives, but only 1% of these women
stood out and reported the case to the police. If we transcend the geographical
boundaries, you will notice that such cases of sexual misconduct are also
prevalent in foreign, the so-called highly developed countries. Therefore, it
is not a national, but a global issue that needs to be addressed and resolved
with much sensible thoughts and actions.
As KIET Group of
Institutions is observing a Pakhwada on ‘Elimination of Violence and
Discrimination Against Women’ from 25 November to 10 December 2022, we aim to
instill a seed of hope and positivity among all the women out there to
understand that taking a stand against gender-based violence or sexual
misbehaviour is highly essential for keeping up one’s mental peace and
self-esteem. Also, through this blog, we wish to salute the efforts of Cindy
Sirinya Bishop, a Thai Supermodel, who started the campaign “Don’t Tell Me How
to Dress” in order to dissolve the world’s most common misconception that a
woman’s dressing style is the main cause of sexual harassment, rape,
eve-teasing or any other unwelcomed sexual behaviour.
What is the “Don’t Tell Me How to Dress” Campaign?
The roots of the “Don’t
Tell Me How to Dress” Campaign began flourishing, back in 2018, when during the
New Year Water Festival, Songkran in Thailand, the local authorities issued a
regulation for Thai women to avoid being dressed ‘sexily’ at the annual
festival. This was a so-called preventive measure devised by the local
authorities to minimize any cases of sexual harassment at the festival.
When Cindy Bishop got to know
about this announcement, she got really offended and posted a video on her
social media handles, saying “Women have the right to dress however we choose,
as long as it’s not illegal. Sexual assault and harassment is never the woman’s
fault! Tell men to keep their hands to themselves!”
Cindy’s post became the voice of a lot of women in Thailand, and eventually became viral. She then teamed up with UN Women and various other organizations to curb the situation of sexual harassment that is being continuously practiced in the name of women attire. She has turned her campaign into an exhibition, where she displays outfits, ranging from jeans and t-shirts to baby jumpsuits, that were once worn by ladies and young girls who were sexually assaulted.
Just like Cindy, there are other
women as well, around the world, who have raised their voice against
discrimination and sexual violence. What we need to understand, is the motive
behind the brave acts of these women.
Referring to the motive behind Cindy’s
campaign, we need to understand that clothes do not and cannot provoke a man to
involve in activities that transform a man from a human to an animal.
In March 2022, it was reported that an innocent
11-year old girl from Pune was raped and assaulted by the male members of her
own family. In May 2022, a 5-year old girl from Mumbai was sexually assaulted by
a 51-year old peon of her school.
Can you assess the level of gross mentality these people might be having that they got involved in such heinous acts? How can men find girls of such tender age sexy to them? These girls have not even entered their puberty stage; they have not even got a proper feminine body with all the God-gifted assets. So, how can their clothes provoke a man? How can a child provoke a man at the very first place?
Honestly speaking, not all men
have such disgusting frame of mind. It’s just that the majority of the families
across the globe, do not point a finger on their sons for disrespecting girls.
They are never taught on how to deal with women, how to protect, respect and
honour them, above all.
We, the KIETians, take a pledge
to keep a stringent eye on what learnings we are imparting to our male students
along with those in our families. We have always taught our students to be respectful
to all the genders and look at them as HUMANS and not as males, females, or
trans-genders.
Lastly, to all the females out
there (be it in any age group), we would like to appeal to you to ‘Speak Up’. Be
it your home, workplace or any public place, learn to raise your voice against any
sort of discrimination against women-sexual or gender-based.
#Don’tTellMeHowtoDress #womenempowerment ##discriminationagainstwomen
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