Public stripping degraded the dignity of womanity and exposed primitive touts in a largely civil society

Public stripping degraded the dignity of womanity and exposed primitive touts in a largely civil society

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rguing that the lady provoked the men to commit rape is illogical. No one strips men who sag trousers or wear figure-hugging jeans and contour- cutting T-Shirts. If it is a matter of emotion-arousal why does it not cut both ways if it is genuine at all?

BY MUSYOKA NGUI

Email: musyokangui02@gmail.com

Blog: musyokangui.blogspot.com

Website: culturemob.com (Technology Reviewer)

This week witnessed a distasteful incident in Nairobi which touts descended on a woman they thought was indecently dressed and stripped her.  In the past these incidences have grabbed media headlines.  The touts who did this were caught on camera and should face the law. Every person has rights and responsibilities and they should enjoy the liberties without infringing or violating the freedoms of others.

MORAL POLICE

No one should be a moral police. Taking the law into one’s own hands is caveman. If the jungle maxim of the survival for the fittest is unleashed there is no need of upholding the Constitution as those who are perceived to be weak will be exploited by those who are “strong”.

To get the basics right consider this situation. If the lady who was in her private space (read house) and walked naked around the house it would not be a big deal. After all, she will be enjoying herself and admiring God’s workmanship without coveting.  But when she decides to walk in public in skimpy dresses she will have to fend off public ridicule and condemnation. That is what our society is: pretentious, hypocritical and “religious” and “African”.

EXERCISE RESTRAINT

The Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko has forwarded a case file to the CID for investigation into this degrading incident. This is a good gesture. The law as it is should be our defender. If the burly touts cannot restrain themselves after seeing a few inches of flesh they should have their boiling testosterone confined in jail. Arguing that the lady provoked the men to commit rape is illogical. No one strips men who sag trousers or wear figure-hugging jeans and contour- cutting T-Shirts. If it is a matter of emotion-arousal why does it not cut both ways if it is genuine at all?

Radio host Maina Kageni called the touts who stripped the Nairobi lady “rowdy uncouth fork jembes”. His colleague Adel Onyango at a different forum expressed fears that if the public stripping goes unpunished it will open floodgates for violation of women rights especially gender based violence. If we do not speak because she was not our sister, daughter or mother next time it could be one of us. Worse still, it could be us.

STOOPING LOW

The woman should fulfill her part of bargain too. Do not be desperate for attention and cheap recognition from anyone. Once you dress and look in the mirror and ascertain that you are presentable you need not be told you are smart. You do not need a whistling confirmation from a tout to know that you are “hot.” That is stooping too low.

Talking of stooping low, do not let your self esteem sink by giving a chance to judged by touts yet you know the obvious: that your dressing will arouse controversy and you may be a victim of your own actions.

We operate in a civilized society, or so we assume. The few touts giving the rest of men a bad name should be identified and be punished.  Meaning is derived from the cultural context. For example, Turkana women walk in bare chests but they do not risk being raped or stripped like in Nairobi. The weather in Turkana dictates you dress light. In most traditional African set ups people wore flying hides and skins and again rape and stripping was unheard of. Today, Nairobi is the cultural hub of Kenya and East Africa but it is a bad example.