Dress the way you want to be addressed is a popular saying
that buttresses the fact that the way you dress speaks a lot about you. This
saying has however, been compromised in recent times by our youths. Most of our
streets, public places and institutions of higher learning are now adorned with
indecent dressing. Ladies are the most culpable.

A dress is simply defined by Oxford Advanced Learners
Dictionary as “a piece of women’s clothing that is in one piece and covers the
body down to the legs, sometimes, reaching below the knees or ankles”.

But for some of our female folks, the reverse is the case.
Their own definition of dress is a piece of women’s clothing that is made in
many pieces and exposes the body down to the legs and most times, flying above
the knees to the lap.

Some ladies have thrown away their values and our beloved
culture as Africans to embrace the western ways of dressing. They seem to have
forgotten that a typical African woman is cultured and is expected to always
cover the sensitive parts of her body.

What most of our ladies put on as skirts, especially on
school campuses is just an inch longer than the underwear. Whenever they put on
such dresses, they struggle to sit down, let alone bend down or stretch their
legs. Apart from the skimpy and tight nature of these dresses, they are also
transparent; revealing certain parts of their bodies to the glare and
embarrassment  of decent people. It is
the equivalent of what my lecturer would call “mobile pornography”.

Some students are so engrossed in this “dress to kill”
mentality such that they have thrown decency to the wind, and even outdo the
westerners they try to emulate.

This indecency was recently advertised to the embarrassment
of some of us during the students’ week of the Rivers State University of
Science and Technology (RSUST) on Friday, August 3, 2012.

The week which featured among other things, the Old School
Day, witnessed some female students marching within the campus with their low
slung knickers (bom shorts), skimpy and body exposing tops, and afro weavons
under the guise of mocking the old school style. Whereas, a little retrospect
into 1960’s and 1970’s, one could hardly see young ladies – who are now
parents, dressed in such manner.

Newspaper reports show that some students of the Federal
Polytechnic, Auchi and Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, who dressed indecently
were recently sent back home. They were prevented from entering the school
premises. Such disciplinary measures have helped the two institutions to
improve and instill moral on their students. The authorities of the RSUST and
other institutions in the country should emulate this.

While undergraduates, especially the female ones are free to
be fashionable, this must be done with some decorum and decency. We should not
forget that the primary motive of attending schools is to acquire knowledge and
be exemplary in learning and character. There is nothing bad in looking good
and smart, but the way we go about it matters and tells a lot about us. Our
ladies should therefore, strive to jealously guard their dignity.

Dressing indecently does not add to one’s beauty nor makes
one a ‘big girl’ as many ladies wrongly assume. It rather takes away one’s
dignity and exposes one to ridicule and embarrassment. There is no doubt that a
lot of sex related problems such as rape and other forms of sexual abuse will
be reduced in various institutions of higher learning and the society at
large  if our ladies can strike a balance
between modernity and modesty.

Ibigotemiari is of the Department of Mass Communication,
RSUST, Port Harcourt.

Igonikon Ibigotemiari