Around the late 1800s and early 1900s in America, there used to be a law on indecent exposure.
It stated that, "The bottom of a woman's skirt shall be no higher than 7 inches above the knee".
Offenders were written a summons for a fine of $10 (that would be $270.33 today).
Failure to pay up would earn such a lady a night in jail.
Back then in America, women were expected to wear cucumber dresses and pantaloon combinations when swimming. In 1907, Annette Kellerman, an Australian swimmer, was arrested on a Boston beach for public indecency for wearing her trademark one-piece swimsuit. After a public outcry at the arrest, the style had become generally acceptable by the 1910s.
That law has since undergone several reviews and amendments.
Today, indecent exposure only refers to conduct undertaken in a non-private or (in some jurisdictions) publicly viewable location, which is deemed indecent in nature, such as nudity, urination, masturbation or sexual intercourse in public.
Today, women wear bikinis when they go swimming or just for the hell of it.
Public nudity itself has not been a crime throughout California since a 2000 Appellate Court ruling.
Do you know why this law was abolished?
Americans realized that putting laws on what a woman should and shouldn't wear was impinging on her fundamental human rights.
I mean, why should there be laws on what women wear but not men too? It was bias.
Also, they realized that forcing women to cover up made the people prudish.
People who were sexually aroused by every little thing they saw.
And in as much as the women covered up, it didn't stop them from being sexually abused or rapped.
Over time they saw that this was an antiquated line of thinking and they did away with it.
They instead, invested their time and energy on educating and training their men to control their minds and their libido.
They discovered that the female body isn't indecent. Only the mind can be.
They gradually introduced the people to scantly dressed women through pop culture; fashion, movies and music.
And it worked!
They've finally succeeded in raising a whole generation of people who don't view a woman's body as sinful or indecent.
People who are comfortable with looking at a woman's skin.
This isn't moral decadence.
This is mental progress.
Statistically speaking, an Indian woman wearing a flowing sari, hijab, burqa and all is ten times more likely to get raped on the streets of Mumbai than an American woman wearing a bra and bum shorts on the streets of Florida.
A Nigerian girl sleeping in her pyjamas in the comfort of her parent's house is more in danger of falling prey to sexual predators than an American teenage girl wearing a mini skirt and a crop top in the park.
Tell me then, between these societies which ones are truly morally decadent.
Sadly, Nigeria has found herself today where America used to be over a century ago.
But with all the information we have at our disposal today, it's sad to see Nigerians who still believe that indecent dressing is actually a thing or the cause of rape.
Regardless that little children get sexually molested the most; even babies too!
When you try to educate them, they'll be shouting 'ess not awa kulshure' and quoting bible verses upandan.
Defending their own ignorance.
But who's culture are you even talking about?
Our ancestors never had a problem with unclad maidens.
That culture was brought to us by the Europeans. A culture they adopted during the dark ages. And even them have since abandoned that barbaric and retrogressive lifestyle.
But leave it to Africans to cling unto every medieval school of thought and way of life on the planet.
Apparently that's about the only thing we're good at; being backward.
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