INDECENT DRESSING AND THE SOCIETY

In our contemporary society today, the indecent ways of dressing adopted by both young men and women alike, has become an ubiquitous mantra, daily romanced by older members of the society, of which the blame is traditionally dumped at the doorsteps of the parents. But come to think of it, who should be responsible for the way you dress? The society? Your parents? The church? The government? The school? Or yourself? Let’s take a critical look at what indecent dressing is, the causes, consequences and ways we could curb or reduce it.

When one dresses inappropriately, like exposing some parts of their body that are meant to remain covered, or puts on an attire that do not suit a particular occasion or environment ( eg putting on bikinis on the street, putting on briefs to a formal gathering etc) , puts on an attire that is discomforting to the eyes of others, all these could be termed as indecent dressing.

The various styles of dressing among many young men and women today, are causing a lot of devastating effects on the moral upbringing of children and youth in the society. It has gotten worse to the extent that even young children are now being influenced by the older ones. More worrying is the fact that most students of higher institutions of learning , who, in no distant future will be writing applications to fill very responsible positions in the running of the society, who, therefore must parade themselves as role models, are themselves deeply rooted in this reprehensible act of indecent dressing.

The covering of our nakedness which is one of the most important reasons for dressing is no longer a thing to remember by the youths of today. Rather, the more naked one is , the more they are accepted among their peers. Infact, if a young man does not expose his boxer shorts, he is not counted among the ‘starboys’ of our society today. Those who dress with their trousers and shorts well tucked in are now referred to as ‘jews’. If a lady has not exposed parts of her thighs, breasts and other sensual parts, she is not ‘slaying’ yet. Quite pitiable it is.

The question that therefore arise is; if the youths are actually the leaders of tomorrow, what would become of our society when they are now at the helm of societal affairs? What can the society do to redress this ugly situation that is set to dwindle our moral values?
Before we can seek for a solution, we must first find out the major reasons why these things are so.

There is a popular saying that ‘charity begins at home’. Unarguably, the first place a child begins to learn morals from, is his home. No matter how bad or corrupt a society is, a child would not succumb to the trend if the home he is from, does not support it. Most parents don’t see anything wrong in the way most of their children dress, so why should they see anything wrong in it themselves?

Our moral and religious standards as a society are all coming to an all time low. Trends which wouldn’t have been accepted way back, are now being accepted today. This has gone a long way in deterriorating the quality of how the youths dress today.
The internet can also be said to be the major breeding ground for these things, as most youths won’t come across these trends in the first place, if there were no internet.

Lastly, i would add that on screen personalities and celebrities are the major originators of these things, as most people would want to copy anything a celebrity does, so as to be seen as them. If a celebrity wears torn jean on screen today, automatically, that becomes a trend tomorrow.

Some of the implications of indecent dressing in the society include rape, promotion of prostitution, it triggers sexual assault, younger ones being influenced by their elder ones they look up to as role models, increase in sexually transmitted diseases due to some of the aforementioned etc.

The way forward from this ugly situation is not also far fetched, as i would suggest that the government put in place stiff punishments for culprits of indecent dressing. The family, religious centers, schools, the media and all other bodies also need to help in the fight against indecent dressing.

In conclusion, I would leave you with this popular statement, ‘dress the way you wish to be addressed’.

Find videos on The Rising Rape Culture in Nigeria here and another interesting one here

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