Society is following nudity if it is following the trend or let us say it in the style of newly appointed Uttarakhand CM, Tirath Singh Rawat that the ripped jeans are a signal of nudity. If we go back to history, the trend of distressed denim had found its way into the punk culture in the 1970s. Before this, ripped jeans were linked with the working class who couldn’t afford to buy new jeans. Even at that time, denim became a target.
The episode of target started when a band named ‘Sex Pistols’ implanted British Punk ideology to fight against the state of affairs and the hidebound form of govt. After this, denim became one of the main targets for political deconstruction. Men and women who wore torn jackets and jeans adorned with pins and slogans were charged.
The ripped jeans were popular in the late 1980s and the 1990s and 2000s during the grunge era. Many international designers like Tom Ford and Helmut Lang, and others began to customize jeans again, which included broken, or slightly more discreet. In the 2010s, this trend came back in style as a revival of the 90s. The Italian firm Dolce & Gabanna presented this trend in their fashion shows. They showcased ripped pants, much shredded by the thigh area with the broken knee. If we talk about the new millennium, distressed jeans are just a fashion statement.
Coming back to the point made by Uttarakhand CM Tirath Singh Rawat, “Wearing ripped jeans destroys our culture, it seems. It leads to substance abuse and a societal breakdown. Women should strictly avoid this violation against our pristine customs.” Here, the word ‘women’ creates a differentiation. On one hand, Rawat is criticizing women over wearing ripped jeans, on the other Baba Ramdev put in a lot of effort to create the perfect ‘sanskari’ ripped jeans for women.
The big question is when will society stop adding ‘sanskar’, ethics, manners in the same basket as clothes? It is impossible until men/women in power stop telling women what to wear and how to dress. There is no law saying a woman cannot purchase or wear clothes that she likes. If she is physically capable of donning the garment, she has every right to do so. There are laws against baring breasts and genitalia, but that’s about it. Obscenity is not defined in any law including the Indian Penal Code. Though the Indian Penal Code has provisions that prohibit obscenity, but that doesn’t mean that wearing shorts or a skirt amounts to it. No one is allowed to object to someone else’s choice of clothing.
The fight is not only for the ripped jeans but for every outfit that enables the exposure of skin. Recently, a Khap Panchayat in UP’s Muzaffarnagar district barred women from wearing jeans and men from wearing shorts. The reason they gave was that jeans are a part of western culture and people should avoid wearing this, instead, people should wear traditional Indian clothes. Maharashtra also set a dress code for govt offices. The state govt banned jeans, T-shirts, and slippers for govt employees and contractual staff.
It stated that as the people of Maharashtra represent its state, so they should wear ‘appropriate’ formal clothes. The circular mentioned that women should wear a sari, salwar, churidar-kurta, or trousers with a kurta or a shirt and a dupatta. But why? The fact that I have been noticing since childhood is that showing belly and back in a saree is fine with Indian culture but at the same time, showing leg is a crime. Not only this, a woman wearing a dupatta is considered to be ‘Sanskari’, but one without it is termed as a show-off or display. In a city like Mumbai, in 2016, St Xavier’s College added ripped jeans to the list of clothing women aren’t allowed to wear. Other Indian universities have enforced similar dress codes, and in 2009, all the colleges in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, ruled that women shouldn’t wear “vulgar Western” clothes to help prevent sexual harassment.
Stating that women’s clothes are a reason behind the sexual assault is something insane. What about the Hyderabad rape case when a 26-year-old veterinary doctor, wearing a ‘SUIT with DUPATTA’ was raped by four men? And what about the rape of a 6 months old baby, 6 years old girl, 69 years old woman? So, the context of relating assaults with one’s dressing style is senseless. Time after time, political leaders have been asking women to not wear fewer clothes.
Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi once said that scantily-clad women attracted male attention and that rape cases were on the rise due to “women wearing fewer clothes”. RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat has also once said that rapes were an urban crime shaped by westernization, and were not happening in rural India where traditional values were upheld. This does not end here as making a controversial remark, a female politician Asha Mirje had remarked that rapes take place also because of a woman’s clothes, her behavior, and her being at inappropriate places. But, leaders like these should remember that rape-proof clothes are those which don’t have women inside them.
Chief of Delhi Commission for Women, Swati Maliwal once remarked, “These politicians should stop telling women what kind of clothes to wear and what not to wear. It’s time they stop underestimating these issues like rape and sexual harassment and do something constructive to address these serious problems.” So, instead of telling women about what to wear, boys should be advised how to behave.
On seeing a woman wearing ripped jeans and making remarks like, “Showing their knees~Is this good?”, BJP leader Tirath Singh Rawat has displayed his shabby mentality. He also said, “Ripped jeans are a result of “bad example” parents set for children, which also leads to substance abuse.” How? If one is moving with the trend, does it mean that his/ her parents have not given sacraments to him/ her? Sacraments or ‘Sanskar’ means a reduction of personality defects in self or making good or purifying. Apart from this, alleging that ripped jeans are a reason behind substance abuse is something funny and unarguable as the statement is itself wrong. Substance abuse, which doesn’t even relate to this, is a completely different issue.
Moreover, the blouse and petticoat which are worn with a saree, often described as India’s national dress, were introduced to India by the British. So the statements like “the western world are following us and we are adopting nudity” or “a woman wearing ripped jeans cannot give a proper environment to her children” are nothing but an example of a ripped mentality.
source: https://www.molitics.in/article/804/ripped-jeans-are-better-than-ripped-mindset
