One vice that has eaten deep into the fabric of  contemporary Nigerian society is indecent dressing.

Indecent dressing by the women folk stands out vividly as one of those most problematic anomalies that has destroyed the Nigerian social system.

Our women now prefer Western mode of dressing regardless of our culture.

Culture connotes the ideas, beliefs and customs that are shared and accepted by people in a society. Our culture and that of other countries cannot be the same; what may be accepted in one’s country may be unacceptable in another country. So if in another country, women are found roaming half naked and it is acceptable, it may not be acceptable in Nigeria.

Our women should be self conscious of their dressing mode. The black man’s culture should not be abused in any way, we should preserve our culture and not insult it. 

The whole scenario is quite disturbing considering that this malady, called indecent dressing has turned out to be a breeding ground for many other societal  malaise like sexual promiscuity, rape, prostitution, spread of sexually transmitted diseases, armed robbery, cultism and occult activities including a litany of similar other vices which have now assumed disturbing proportions.

It is the mother of all vices because the exposure of the sensitive part of a woman has that propensity of arousing sex urge in men and in extreme cases leads to rape, especially, where the resources to satisfy this urge are not easy to come by. Second, unavailability of resources may lead the men especially, the youths into robbery and cult activities just to meet the economic demands of the female partners. Third, the womenfolk through indecent dressing lure many men to themselves and in many case make a lot of economic gains through this situation, thereby becoming prostitutes. Of course, the ultimate product of the whole state of affairs include spread of diseases and death. The much talked about spread of HIV and AIDS viruses at present, bears testimony to this fact.

In the face of this ugly trend, certain category of people notably the female groups, comprising girls, mothers and indeed the entire womenfolk are the ultimate perpetrators of the evil. However, this writer sees beyond the womenfolk as the root of this obnoxious development. If men were not there; if they did not and do not patronize evil, the culprits will be angels as this evil will be unattractive to them.

Men’s roles to a great extent, serves as a catalyst that energises, magnifies and sustains the perpetration and perpetuation of this cankerworm. It is worthy of note that this group of women indulge in this “shame” to reduce the male ones and out of this, make their selfish fortunes which may be the satisfaction of their economic, emotional and society needs. But in this, they would fail without the co-operation and encouragement of some men, especially, the sugar daddies.

Also, the designers of these so-called fashions share in the blame. Some of these women learn about these satanic fashions from the makers of these wears and could not have on their own thought of, and chosen these without the advertisement of the makers of the inviting fashion.

Granted that the instinct is there in any healthy person, but the instinct is also in every healthy animal. The only difference is that every normal person should have, and be able to exercise that self control that characterises a normal person, other wise, man reduces self to a mere dog, a he-goat or a similar thing.

The bottom line is that men, as normal human persons should strive to dissociate themselves from finding excuses for animal behaviours, but should remain dogged in the exercise of their power of self-control in the face of any temptation to the contrary.

This constitutes the core measure vis-à-vis laying to rest, indecent dressing with its inherent danger to our society.

Akwen is an intern with The Tide.

Esther Akwen