A few weeks ago, the newly opened Bed Lounge Bar attracted a fair amount of flak for barring people wearing traditional costumes from their premises.
My own view on that was very simple. Any establishment has the right to choose its own rules. Whether i like them or not. If I don’t like the rules, i go to another establishment that has rules that i can abide by.

The reason why this came up was an article today about the University of Mumbai deciding to introduce its own dress code. But for very different reasons.
Today, Mumbai University has decided to:

ban women from wearing mini skirts, tight tops and shorts, saying this will help prevent rape.

I expect that the University is going to get jhaaped very nicely by all quarters. And rightly so. The mistake that the University has made is in creating a causality between rape and attire. The fact remains that women like Mukhtar Mai or the victims of rape in Gujarat were modestly clad. That didn’t prevent them from getting raped. I remember reading somewhere that the incidence of rape tends to be the lowest in nudist colonies. With this prouncement, the university has shifted the onus of blame of “inciting rape” on the victim specifically and on women in general.

Now, if the University had instead said that

We are an organisation - with a certain entrance, admission and behavioural parameters, and anyone who wishes to be a part of us needs to follow it

they would have probably achieved the same effect without idiotic cause of effect pronouncements.

Tags: Mumbai, Society