Guyana and its dress code

By Akola Thompson

MOST of us know the significance of the year 2016 and the historic moment associated with it. This year marks 50 years since the Union Jack descended and the Golden Arrowhead rose. As much as I am excited about this year and all it entails, I cannot say that I am entirely impressed in how far from colonial mentality we have strayed since gaining our independence. Our tendency to accept things that have been handed out to us without question is something, which worries me about our country. We see many examples of this same mindset on any given day, but for this column, I will focus on one, the Guyanese dress code in public buildings.

In a country with only two weather patterns, one would expect our clothes to suit them, but instead we have a stringent dress code, which takes none of this into consideration. Before I go on, I believe I should make the point that I believe that rules and codes are necessary. However, if these rules serve no discernable purpose other than to please a society, which is slowly outgrowing the archaic ideology they were founded upon, then maybe these rules or codes need to be revisited.

I know there are those who are quick to say that we have not outgrown these rules and they are there so as to not have persons going ‘overboard’ in their attire and wearing whatever suits them. My question to those is, so what? Why society continues to concern itself with the amount of skin shown and dictating what is considered ‘proper’ and what is not is beyond reasoning, with the only possible answer remaining that most of us remain slaves to tradition.

I find it interesting that dress codes aside from being asinine tend to affect women more than they do men. Just look at any dress code plastered in the walls of our various government offices and public spaces and observe how many more restrictions there are for females in comparison to males.

A few weeks back I stepped into the door of the Land Registry building in central Georgetown. As if afraid I was trying to lower society’s morals by displaying my bare arms, two guards loudly stopped me and told me I could not go any further as there were rules to the building and I had to abide by them.

A woman sitting inside almost had her entire breast outside, and while nothing is wrong with that, I considered it extremely unfair that I should be stopped at the door for showing my arms and I had a few choice words to say to the guards. I quickly regretted it and apologized and left because they were just doing their jobs. Because I had forgotten that I still live in an oppressive society and dared show my arms in a government building, my day’s plans had to be cancelled until the next where I, for the sake of business, dressed to the states liking.

It is rather unfortunate that we are still being judged upon the way we dress and are even cautioned about it. Heaven forbid a woman shows her calves and elicits sexual desires within a man. Even those sworn to protect us hold these same views about the way we should dress to avoid trouble. Remember Clifton Hicken cautioning us a few years back to “not to dress in a manner that encourages this illegal act (rape) that has claimed the lives of a few victims.”

Now, my personal opinion is that pants are to be worn on hips and crocs are never to be worn at all, but in the interest of freedom of expression, it is not my place to tell someone what to or not to wear and the state should not either. I realise that the problem not only lies in the establishments but in our people as well and in order to truly fix it, we must hoist ourselves up from the mire of what is considered ‘proper’ and begin having original thoughts of our own. So the next time you feel the need to criticize someone for the amount of legs they show, don’t and do not let us go down that path where we begin to call our nation’s children wenches because they dare show their elbows.

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