What to wear and what not

A short video clip showing a young lady and a man exchanging verbal arguments inside a public bus went viral recently. The incident began when the lady boarded the bus and was looking for a seat. The man, sitting next to the door, murmured a few words that made the lady furious. She reacted sharply and charged the man for making nasty comments about her dress. The man also angrily started using abusive languages, and, at one stage, the lady removed one of her shoes and took it in one hand to hit the man. The situation aggravated when the man got up from his seat and hit the lady and she fell on the engine cover beside the bus driver. She, however, recovered fast and tried to return the blow. Only one fellow passenger tried to pacify both of them while others apparently were enjoying the scuffle. The video clip ended with the lady shouting and asking why the man made nasty comments on her dress.

What the man actually said is difficult to follow in the video clip for whatever he said in a low voice and there was plenty of noise in the bus. One thing, however, is clear: he passed a few objectionable comments targeting the lady. From the lady's shouting, it was also clear that the comments were about her dress. The video clip revealed that the woman was wearing a pair of pants and a half-sleeve shirt, and that she had a scarf over her hair from the back. She also put a small cross bag on her shoulder. For some people, the dress may seem inappropriate in the public place. Some of those who shared the video clip claimed that the man rebuked the lady for not wearing orna (scarf used by women generally putting it over shoulder and chest and sometimes covering head).

Presumably, the woman is used to commuting on public bus for her work and travelling to other destinations. The public bus in Dhaka is so terrible that even men have to struggle to get inside. For women and children, these buses are nothing but moving hells. As no suitable alternative exists, thousands of men, women and children have got to do very uncomfortable commuting daily. To get some relief from these unfriendly public buses, many women prefer to wear comfortable dresses so that they could move smoothly. Usually, almost all of them use modest and decent dresses as they go through public places.

The woman in question was harassed both verbally and physically because of her clothing, and everyone just watched. The attacker's face is visible, and he should have been arrested within 24 hours. Someone posted a still photo, grabbed from the video clip, showing the woman charging the man with a shoe in one hand. They also termed the photo a symbol of women's resistance against moral policing. Some netizens, however, argued that the woman's action crossed the line.

Teasing and harassing women for their dresses in public is not a new thing in the country. Intriguingly, in some cases, even women turned against fellow women for wearing 'inappropriate' dresses. Three years back, a female student came under attack for her 'indecent' outfit. A fully clad lady launched the attack first, verbally rebuking the student. Later, some men joined the lady and assaulted the female student. The incident went to the High Court. Again, in the early part of this year, a female student at the Dhaka University campus was verbally abused by a staff member for so-called inappropriate dress. Though police arrested the youth following the victim's formal complaint, he was granted bail and then garlanded by a small group who identified itself as 'Touhidi Janata.'

What to wear and what not to wear is a personal choice guided by family tradition and socio-cultural norms. Everyone also knows that it is necessary to respect social and cultural practices. The variations in dresses with new fashions are also designed accordingly, and there is nothing wrong with wearing fashionable dresses. Women in Bangladesh know some dresses that can be worn at home are not always acceptable in public places. Men, however, should not try to advise women in public about so-called inappropriate dresses.

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