Clothing & Control
August 13th, 2010
Ever wondered why we never hear of the ‘trouble’ with allowing young men to wear Western clothes? Why are trousers and shirts ‘normal’ for men, whether Indian or Western, while women must uphold the symbols of their cultures or religion?
Read more on clothing and control, over at Women’s Web.
Remember men believe they are above everything-Women in the other hand are victims of every social injustice known to man.
This is because of the culture & religion that we follow in this country which has never given any freedom to women. Though they always claim to have given freedom. (ever wondered why in 21st century we see adds in doordarshan to send our girl child to school). Of late we do see a lot of women making it to the top of social order & having finacial freedom & security. This has come about due to western influence not because of any outdated & stale culture and tradition with a tinge of religion to it, which we feel so proud of at times. After working for some years in Mumbai I returned to my home tome. To my surprise I found that the college that I went to had introduced a new dress code for students. And Guess What? Formal Shirt & Pants for men & Salwar kameez for women. I did not like it at all. I asked some of my friends about the changes.I was told that young girls were taking to western dresses was very disturbing and not doing any good to the envionment of the college. It did not take long for me to figure out the problem, Ours is male dominated country, and the culture & tradtion that we follow tells us that every male in this country is looking for that Sita, who is dumb, dedicated & does what ever she is asked to do to please the male ego. She does not have anything of her own. If she does, she is not sita but some woman of questionable character, who can be exlpoited if time & place permit.
@ Rakesh - IMO, culture and religion are a little different in how they impact us. I would also be wary of saying that it is entirely Western ideas that have helped us become more progressive; after all, India has a rich tradition of protest movements and dissent. However, I do agree that women are held to different (and often impossible) standards and that there is a huge fear of women becoming Westernised. We need more men like you to support the right of women to be independent people
@apu
I am with you.
Strangely enough, I’ve never thought about this issue this way. I have been enraged and frustrated by the attempts of some people to force women to be “traditional” and uphold their culture, but very strangely, I’ve never compared those events to the (the lack of) similar pressures on men.
Wow. Thank you for pointing this issue out.