Less is more: How short is short?

Less is more: How short is short?

Kwa nini mtu atembee uchi? ( Why would someone walk around naked?)

Aje? (How?)

Uchi. (Naked)

Unamaanisha nini? (What do you mean?)

Si kutembea na nguo haijafunika magoti ama kifua na mgongo ni uchi? (Walking wearing clothes which do not cover knees, bust and back)

I disagreed.

My female pal was advocating for what she called modest and decent dressing. I told her that dressing is relative. She said she already knew that. I asked her what the beef she held against skimpy dressers.

“They distract men and trigger their testosterone. Men lose focus and concentration before such girls/women.”

I weighed in: Don’t tell me you are the folks that justify rape on account of victim’s dressing style.

She: I don’t but there is a boundary.

Me: Which boundary?

She: Did you see what the conductors did to a girl in Chuka bus stage?

Me: No.

She:  You should have been there. She was stripped to the barest minimum.  Were it not for women who threw lesos her way she would have strutted her fundamentals naked.

Me: What! That is primitive.  Why would anyone take the law in their own hands? That is playing accuser, judge and executioner all in one. Mob justice. Such accused can never find justice because you are hell bent to be biased and subjective.

She: I don’t care who is stripped. Whether it is me or my mother.

Me: Ati! Dunia imepasuka mahali.

She: People should learn to dress like human beings not prostitutes. Did you see Miss Chuka change of wardrobe soon after winning the beauty contest?

Me: You want a model to dress like a grandmother? Hehee! She should expose her assets. After all they are the ones which earned her the crown. She has brains too not just a bimbo.

She: So you have never been irritated by the dressing codes of these campus chicks?

Me: I have. At times.

She: So…

Me: So what? What am I supposed to do? I respect the rights and freedoms of others as long as they do not infringe on mine or that of others. Whoever is offended should follow the law.

She: Meaning?

Me: Go to court. Go and tell the judge this and that happened to you and table your evidence for consideration but not lynching some peoples’ daughters in the name of conservativeness and decency.

She: Why should I go to court when I can do it myself there and then?

Me: This is not Amazon juggle my friend. There is democracy and human rights. You can’t trample on them like that.

She: What about the offending skimpy dressers? If they were Ugandans they would have been arrested by police. Recently their parliament passed anti miniskirt law. No more curves, cleavages and fleshes at the Pearl of Africa.

Me: Uganda is not Kenya. Kenya runs on a different OS of a constitution. It is not a one man’s show like UG.

She: Dressing depends on many factors like the context, weather, time and mood. Fashion savvy individuals capture the theme of the moment by combining colours creatively.

Me: That’s true. However let them be. By the way kwani you bought them the clothes they are wearing to get an authority to dictate what and how they wear?

She: No. Anyway am out. It was such a great intellectual intercourse.

The writer studies Bachelors of Arts Degree in Communication and Media at Chuka University. He blogs at musyokangui.blogspot.com

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