Priyanka sat in a western legs revealing outfit, cross legged before the Prime Minister of India. Is this right or wrong? This is the debate that is brewing around the country.
What do feminists say?
It is her wish to dress as she wishes
It is global culture to be seated cross legged in meetings.
WTF - What are the facts?
Dressing is a woman's choice
Here, she is not being judged as a woman. While we fight for gender equality, women should bear in mind, the responsibility to not use their gender as a trump card to stave off anything against them. It is definitely a woman's choice to go nude or be full covered, but the question here is, what is the ideal dress to wear while meeting the PM of India? Again, who are we to tell that? The question arises because when there is a dress code for colleges and offices, why can there not be a dress code for such occasions?
Let's get this straight and clear. Bollywood has been a big source of fashion for Indians, agreed. Nevertheless, people have pinpointed most of the actress's wardrobe malfunction and dressing sense in parties. During such stupid acts, the people were mere spectators, enjoying the gossip. Now, when there is really an issue with the dressing sense, the same people are trying to act as loyal feminists who want to save their sisterhood from crticism. This is the wrong approach, as even men who had dressed inappropriate for that occasion would have been censured. Still don't agree? Can you imagine a guy meeting PM with a lungi or shorts and still feel the same about his right to dress? It's time, we show some sense in our argument than blindly talking about women's rights while actuality is we are not even remotely connecting women's rights with an issue.
Crossed legged during meetings is global culture.
Hang on. What is global culture? For heaven's sake if you've been hallucinating all along that US culture is global culture, it's not! What global culture really is, is respecting every country and act according to each country’s tradition when you are there. The famous saying goes 'Well you are in Rome, behave like a Roman’. But in India, it is a shame to behave like an Indian because Indians are old school and are not civilised. Oh sacred souls, it is you, the same shameless Indian who go abroad and when back, dirty the environment because it is 'Indian’ to dirty the place and then praise the foreign nations for their cleanliness. Bitch please, give Indians some breathing space to embrace their culture and teach you morons the way to live than the ironical other way round.
Priyanka does not become a US citizen just because she's acted in Hollywood. Her identity is Indian and she trying to erase it is a pity than worry because she is losing out on something valuable choiceously.
Having said all this, I'm not a traditional fool trying to moral police someone - anyone for that matter into asking them to dress and behave as their ancestors did forever. I'm as sober to dress skimpy at a party and in chunky gold jewellery at a rural festival. My only concern expressed here is to have a situational awareness about the place and time you are in and use a common sense of behavior when you are on important occasions.
