By Oluwanifemi Sanusi
It is sad how our tertiary institutions battle with numerous vices on our campuses. One of such vices that rarely catches the eye is indecent dressing. Indecent dressing has taken a better part of our student body and people caught up with it shamelessly claim it is “been in vogue”, to wit; a very popular and fashionable way of dressing. An indication that people have lost their moral sense and true cultural identities. The purpose of this writeup is to demonstrate the extent to which these indecent dressing styles corrupt our society’s good standing morals. Indecent dressing is not only against societal norms but paves way for other vices to operate. One can attest to the increasing sexual activities taking place on our campuses.
A lady can no longer dress without exposing her thighs, cleavage, stomach or some other parts. Our boutiques are jammed with miniskirts, club tops, skinny trousers to mention but a few. These dresses tighten a lady’s body and give an outline of their body shapes and projects the breasts, buttocks and hips. The worse part is where ladies dress without wearing panties as is the case now and you will see their vulva clearly draw in the skinny trousers. Meanwhile, research has shown that men are sexually driven by these exposes or by preferably what they see. Indecent dressing therefore becomes that link to sexual immortality. These dresses sexually arouses men and causes them to lure these girls into sexual activities. More often than not, when they are unable to obtain consent of these girls, they use force.Then when they realize what the sun of their erotic wears have dawned on them, they rant and cry like virgin Mary will do, while they are the very architects of their own misfortunes. It is sad to understand that choices be it; good or bad has consequences.
Our campus boys are not left out on the subject. Wearing of tattered jeans and sagging trousers has become the new normal. It baffles me; how people pay money in exchange for rags in the name of fashion. These sagging jeans are lowered to their buttocks to the extent of exposing their dirty boxer shorts and other underpants. Sagging jeans is believed to have originated from the United States Prisons, where belts where prohibited. So, inmates where allowed to wear their trousers without belts, causing their trousers to sag. This corrupted form of dressing later became popularized in the 1990s by hip-hop musicians whom where mostly ex-convicts.
In neighbouring country; Ghana, sagging trousers is called OTOFISTA, which was first believed to have been introduced to the country by a former Blackstars Coach called Otto Pfister. He was a German national and coached the Senior National team of Ghana from 1992 to 1993. Well, I don’t think proper education and sensitization alone is enough to make these young adults desist from these immodest behaviours. I think, it is high time university authorities crack the whip: students with those kind of dressings should be restricted from the university community. They should be given the option to go home and change their dresses completely or in default apply the necessary sanctions. If care is not taken, these indecent dressing will not only inspire sexual or other immoral related activities but will go a long way to dent the image of the institution.