Miniskirts: The long and short of it

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IF a man looks at a lady wearing a short skirt, who is at fault? An intriguing question.

thesundaypost takes a closer look at this all-too debatable subject to uncover some of the complicated issues behind it as well as find out what today’s public thinks about it.

Historical

It may come as a surprise to most people but archaeological evidence suggests short skirts (more popularly known as miniskirts) may have existed as early as human civilisation.

According to an insightful article by Random History about the history and evolution of the mini-skirt (http://bit.ly/hylj7Z), archaeologists have uncovered ancient figures buried by time and dirt in some of Europe’s oldest villages, dating between 5400 – 4700 BC and depicting females appearing to be dressed in miniskirts.

However, for most Malaysians, the miniskirt is synonymous with the swingin’ 60s – thanks largely to an English designer named Mary Quant and her (then) revolutionary decision to raise hemlines several inches above the knee.

Named after her favourite car, the miniskirt instantly became an international fashion icon and statement.

Girls and young women everywhere rejected the then status quo which emphasised conservatism and cookie-cutter conformity in favour of the garment which reflected the free, youthful and individualistic spirit of the time.

Since then, hemlines have risen or fallen according to the dictates of fashion and (some people would argue) the economy.

According to the theory behind the hemline index developed in 1926 by respected US economist George Taylor, the shorter the skirt, the stronger the economy.

The logic behind this theory is that people become more uninhibited in the way they dress when public confidence in the economy is high and markets are bullish. Vice versa, if markets are bearish and public confidence is low, people tend to dress more conservatively.

Whether investors should rely on the latest fashion trends from New York, Paris and London as a predictor of market direction is still highly debatable.

Female emancipation?

Why are miniskirts such a provocative subject?

For the sake of simplicity, let us assume it’s the female wearing the skirt – as debating the stigma and intrinsic values associated with skirt-wearing men deserves a feature story all its own.

There are many ways to look at miniskirts (no pun intended) because they fall within the expertise of a diverse range of academic fields including gender studies and politics, feminism, sociology, economics, fashion, cultural studies, and postmodernism.

In certain professional sports such as tennis, wearing short skirts is nothing out of the ordinary. Certain female tennis stars, including Venus Williams, make full use of the opportunity to create waves of publicity with eye-catching and undeniably very short tennis skirts.

In general, people have a love-hate relationship with short skirts mainly because of the tacit relationships and meanings associated with the character of the person wearing them.

On the one hand, a miniskirt can indicate the wearer is confident of her feminity and sexuality, flipping the proverbial feministic finger in an act of rebellion against constraints and labels slapped on them by misogynistic societies and cultures who have appointed themselves as guardians of female honour.

On the other hand, a woman wearing a miniskirt still tends to be perceived as someone of loose morals or someone who ‘tidak tahu malu’ (knows no shame), prone to negative western influences and against local sentiments about the proper parameters of female modesty, chastity and behaviour.

But what do the youths and young adults of Kuching make of these two extreme views today?

Using unscientific, un-random sampling methods (that is cornering acquaintances and random people at a gym and press conference respectively), thesundaypost discovered that many young adults think the earlier question of who is at fault is actually a non-issue in today’s context.

A matter of biology?

General manager Mesh Nair said no one was at fault, a view all the other individuals interviewed for this feature shared.

“Miniskirts can be a fashion statement. And (heterosexual) guys are naturally wired to look. If the guy stops looking, then there’s probably something not quite right,” he added.

Radio station executive Christopher Boreh agreed.

He also pointed out that group dynamics could also come into play.

“When a guy is alone, he may look quietly and go back to what he is doing. But if he is with his group of friends, they will look and talk and elaborate.”

In general, their female colleagues don’t see a problem with this.

“It’s their nature to look,” said radio station executive Carrie David, as colleague Natasha Juan who is also a student and blogger nods her head in agreement.

Freedom to choose

For the most part, the women interviewed don’t seem to feel that wearing miniskirts perpetuates the perception of women as sexual objects.

“Women want to wear clothes which make them feel good and are comfortable to wear,” said operations manager Iza Ibrahim.

Natasha said there’s nothing wrong about wearing miniskirts as they are a part of fashion and women just want to look good.

She added that how it is perceived depends on the individual who is doing the perceiving as even women dressed very conservatively, such as wearing ‘tudung’, have been known to attract unwanted sexual attention.

She pointed out that sexualising a person based on what he or she wears is something not confined to women as men wearing short shorts while running are also subject to the same treatment.

Christopher, Natasha, Carrie and their colleague Tan Hui Yee agreed that the environment or context in which wearing the miniskirt takes place is also important.

“For example, miniskirts are normal and acceptable if worn by female students in colleges. If somewhere else, it may not be so acceptable,” Christophern said.

“Wearing miniskirts to a religious occasion or into a house of worship is definitely not the right thing to do,” Natasha added.

Generation and culture gap

Carrie acknowledged short shorts and miniskirts are perceived as an acceptable form of women’s dressing mainly among the younger generation and that older generation still frowned upon them.

She cited an incident back at her village when she wore hot pants out and her grandmother refused to walk next to her.

Senior manager Mesh who describes himself as “very old” suggested fashion goes through cycles, and with it, cultural expectations of what standards of dressing are acceptable.

“If we look at the older generation, like during P Ramlee’s time, women’s dressing was quite form-fitting, and no one had any problems with it. But today, that type of dressing would probably be censored on television,” Mesh said.

He pointed out that in today’s society, standards of proper dressing in the workplace depended on the internal corporate culture as well rules and regulations in place.

In some organisations, miniskirts are an accepted part of the corporate dress code.

Personal responsibility

For young married couple Albert Lim and Serina William, it comes down to the intentions behind that person’s choices, taking responsibility for choices made and applying both these rules equally between the sexes.

“Of course, I can’t speak for other men, but for me, the first look can be a coincidence – but the second look is a choice,” said fitness and Brazilian Jujitsu instructor Albert.

“I’m a Christian and I’m married, and for me, it’s a choice to not take the second look. Also for the record, if the first look takes especially long, that’s also a choice.

“Ibrahim Ali was quoted as saying “husbands driving home after work see things sexually arousing and go to their wives to ease their urges”, and that wives who don’t comply, push their husbands to “private places to satisfy their urges”.

“This is poor form and a bad excuse. It implies there is no such thing as self-control, or responsibility. I believe no matter what, all our actions are choices and we should be held accountable for those choices.”
Dance instructor Serina said it was normal to appreciate beauty and notice things that stood out.

She noted that a girl may dress up to feel good about herself, to attract attention or just because it was the fashion, but cautioned that ladies needed to exercise wisdom when deciding what to wear.

“It’s normal for people to want to look and feel attractive but it’s not normal for people to want to attract perverts. There’s a big difference between ‘Wow, she looks great!’ which is healthy admiration, and ‘insert-pick-up-line’ which is just gross.

“So the key is choosing what to wear when, and with whom, and being wise with your choices.  Anyone, man or woman, who dresses in any manner that makes them stand out and then doesn’t want to be looked at in public is simply not being socially aware.”

Iza Ibrahim

The conclusion

The raging debate over miniskirts is far from being over or reaching a solution which will satisfy everyone and not trivialise certain issues affecting basic human rights.

What is certain is that a healthy dose of respect of the differences between the sexes is required in order to treat the complicated underlying issues with the all the reverence and deference they deserve so that both men and women can continue to enjoy the miniskirt for many years to come.