I have taken quite some time to pen this piece, partly because the moral gangs purporting to advocate for a ‘new era of a morally upright Kenya’ by undressing women, shook the belief I had in mankind to the core. I cannot understand it, this is the year of our Lord 2014 and for God’s sake we have smartphones, drones, rockets that land on comets and a selfie addicted president. There is absolutely no excuse for any being, Neanderthal or not to walk around pre-supposing that he or she or they for that matter are the moral guardians of Kenyan society. There is no excuse for people to forcefully impose their own subjective moral sanctions on other people. It is not right, it reeks and it is abhorrently wrong. I am not wearing a dress any time soon, but I have no objection against those men who have a fetish for mauve and black pleat dresses, it bothers me less.
Perhaps more worrying, is the fact that; suave, well educated men, who walk around with two smartphones and drink to a few exotic beers in the weekend do not find any problems with the layabout who undresses women. Those of us who have 8-5 white collar jobs have not equivocally condemned the actions of this underemployed touts who find mirth in the act of stripping women.
The justification being bandied around are that dressing in miniskirts is ‘un-african,’ well says who? Brilliant chap must be, who has mastery of African culture from the Cape to the Mediterranean up North. Well the last time I checked, the women in South Western Africa still wear incredibly short sisal dresses and wear no tops, should we send our men there to strip them off their breasts.
Perhaps more appalling is this new cultural recidivism that is taking root in Africa. Culture is dynamic, it changes, and it’s a function of much, much more. But every time an issue of social significance takes place in Africa, we recall the ways of old. My grandmother might not have worn mini-skirts, but may be cotton was cheaper then, see inflation could have an effect on anything including dress sizes?
That said and done, I do not understand how the feminists have managed to spin this around and somehow managed to alienate all liberals in the process. Undressing women is a public and not a feminist issue, it is a human rights and dignity issue, no man or woman, dressed in loin cloth or sisal dress should ever face the indignity of having his clothes ripped-off his body. This is not a feminist issue, particulary because women form around half of human kind, any concern of theirs is general mankind concern. From the undressing of women incident on Accra Road in Nairobi, by a particular group of men, I do not entirely see that Kenyan society has become more misogynistic. I do not see wholesome ill treatment of women by men and institutions in Kenya. I however see men, whose mindsets remain pegged to earlier stages of hominid development. They have no moral cause, if they had they would have visited the many and busy red light districts of Nairobi, there they would have easy pickings. But they cannot, because after a days hard work of no work, those are the same streets they pass through to satiate their sexual starvation. All I am asking them is to be true to themselves and true to their heads. For man and woman must dress as they wish.
Alex Njeru wrote in from Kenya
Photo: The My Dress, My Choice protest in Kenya, credit: selahafrik.com
