Don't dress it all up

Go on a slutwalk, have your own sexual orientation, but don't tell us about it.

The clothes were more suitable for office on a Saturday at best. No doubt a deep disappointment for the men at whom the slutwalk was aimed and who, by all accounts, equaled the women who came out on a humid Sunday afternoon in Delhi to reiterate their freedom to dress as they please without lecherous male eyes falling upon them, leave alone wandering hands. Reports of the walk hyperventilated about the fact that it was not as well attended as it should be. That, we feel, is missing the point. Many of those aspiring to slutdom must have quailed at actually turning up in the appropriate clothing given that they did not want the very thing that they were protesting — unwelcome male attention, something that is never in short supply in Delhi.

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But that apart, we would like to make what is perhaps a politically incorrect observation. If you as a woman feel that you have a right to dress as you please, do you need a march to tell us so? Similarly, if you are of a particular sexual orientation, do you need to broadcast this fact to the world? Say, for example, that you were a common and garden heterosexual or a prude who will not step out without covering her arms and knees, would you take out a parade to challenge the world? Not likely. If dressing like a slut or being inclined to a same sex partner is your thing, then go ahead and get on with your life.