I had written a few months back about the sexism prevalent in women’s dress-codes at work. Perhaps today’s incident has put the issue more firmly at the forefront of my mind now. Dressing up for interviews is always daunting; and never more so when the brief is to wear smart casuals (its less of a dress-code and more of a quagmire that only the most practiced wade through without sinking on nine out of ten occasions) that also shows off my personality.
So I decided to risk it with my green skirt! Spring-time and eye-popping colours and all that. Of course I dressed it down appropriately with sober black shoes, opaque tights and high neck top and a jacket. Walking down the street I felt so dapper! That was until a hoot and a call of ‘Hi there, gorgeous’ hit my blushing earholes. Now, I am not usually the type such comments are often directed to. I, thankfully, pass by unnoticed when inappropriate and objectifying male attention is being doled out on the streets. So this not only caught me by surprise, but also made me doubt the appropriateness of my interview attire.
Was it the skirt? I fidgeted with it until it was as long as it could be. Stretch for me a little more, baby, there’s a good girl! Was my makeup too much? Blusher too dark? Heels too high? Bag too bright? What in the goddamn world was wrong with ME? I almost rushed back to my apartment to change. I felt obscene! (In case this sounds like an over-reaction, I was even followed to the tube station by this very ‘complimentary’ admirer.)
This reaction was compounded by the fact that my mother asked me to take a PICTURE of what I was wearing so she could see if the creepy masculine attention it attracted was justified or not. Bless you, mother, but I would please like to get out of the habit of chastising myself (my attire, behaviour, lateness of the hour I choose to return home) for what is obviously a type of behaviour that is intended to make me uncomfortable, and is hence intentionally anti-social and inexcusable. For the umpteenth time, ‘my skirt is not an invitation’!
(While editing this blogpost I noticed that I was all too eager to point out the specifics of what I was wearing in what I can only assume is a defensive attempt to avert blame. I do resent this self-censuring and self-policing impulse that, unknown to me, has obviously been hibernating within me, waiting for a catcall to surface.)
Tags: feminism, sexual harassment, victim blaming
I have been following the conversations and controversies regarding Obama’s 
