Young girls & Salwaar Kameez
Priya Mitron,
Namaskaara!
Salwaar Kameez is one dress which gives women a lot of freedom of movement of limbs. It can be made of all types of common fabrics and thus is suitable for all weathers. Almost all girls in India wear Salwaar Kameez for day-to-day business. It presents no worries to those who wear it and those who do not. But, what one wears is governed by many factors viz. ethnicity, climate, culture, stages of puberty etc. Young girls fall in the realm of pre-puberty stage. I suggest that they should not be asked to wear Salwaar Kameez.
Children are free-flowing creatures by nature and their spirit cannot be bound by anything other than absolute scarcity of love and sensitivity on part of those who endeavour to do so. Girl child is no exception. Males and females dress keeping in mind their physical structure which predominantly concerns with the organs of reproduction. These organs also take care of excretion of waste body fluids. That is why it makes sense to design different kinds of clothing for boys and girls keeping in mind the ease of answering the nature’s call.
Skirts and frocks are the best garments that young girls should wear and it is the case in most parts of the world. In many Asian countries, we tend to see young girls wearing Salwaar Kameez. They cover the entire body and as we agreed earlier are good enough for physical movement. This satisfies the trait of keeping girls largely safe from a potential sexual attack or molestation. But at the same time it inculcates a feeling into the girls that they are “very different” from the boys, they are not supposed to break free and go wild as boys may choose to do, they are supposed to cover their body as far as possible as it would be considered indecent and somebody may make sexual advances if this is not the case, and that they are socially inferior to boys in the social strata.
Unfortunately, most of these feelings become reality as they enter into adulthood. We treat women as secondary human beings and more crudely, as objects of utilities. The minimum we can do to obstruct this false growth is to delay its offset as much as possible. Young minds should be free of this bias as much as possible. We do not want a girl of 5 or 8 years of age staying away from a group of boys making merry in a park simply because there is no other girl around to talk to and she has been preached to mind that difference.
This may appear a very trivial argument, based on a weak premise, but it is necessary not to let young girls worry about their sexual appearance, avoid physical contacts with boys, which is such an indispensable part of playing for kids, imitate adults about dressing and looking good. Give them some breathing space and opportunity to transform while they are supposed to undertake so much learning in that unspoiled, pure phase of life, called “Childhood”, which can help them become a good human being, not a subdued female who cannot express anything beyond a limit.
Readers are requested to think about this and see if they agree and can do something about it. On my part, I try to resist Slawaar Kameez as clothing for all young girls I know and can reach to.
Aapakaa,
Pankaj Dwivedi.
Priya Mitron,
Namaskaara!
Salwaar Kameez is one dress which gives women a lot of freedom of movement of limbs. It can be made of all types of common fabrics and thus is suitable for all weathers. Almost all girls in India wear Salwaar Kameez for day-to-day business. It presents no worries to those who wear it and those who do not. But, what one wears is governed by many factors viz. ethnicity, climate, culture, stages of puberty etc. Young girls fall in the realm of pre-puberty stage. I suggest that they should not be asked to wear Salwaar Kameez.
Children are free-flowing creatures by nature and their spirit cannot be bound by anything other than absolute scarcity of love and sensitivity on part of those who endeavour to do so. Girl child is no exception. Males and females dress keeping in mind their physical structure which predominantly concerns with the organs of reproduction. These organs also take care of excretion of waste body fluids. That is why it makes sense to design different kinds of clothing for boys and girls keeping in mind the ease of answering the nature’s call.
Skirts and frocks are the best garments that young girls should wear and it is the case in most parts of the world. In many Asian countries, we tend to see young girls wearing Salwaar Kameez. They cover the entire body and as we agreed earlier are good enough for physical movement. This satisfies the trait of keeping girls largely safe from a potential sexual attack or molestation. But at the same time it inculcates a feeling into the girls that they are “very different” from the boys, they are not supposed to break free and go wild as boys may choose to do, they are supposed to cover their body as far as possible as it would be considered indecent and somebody may make sexual advances if this is not the case, and that they are socially inferior to boys in the social strata.
Unfortunately, most of these feelings become reality as they enter into adulthood. We treat women as secondary human beings and more crudely, as objects of utilities. The minimum we can do to obstruct this false growth is to delay its offset as much as possible. Young minds should be free of this bias as much as possible. We do not want a girl of 5 or 8 years of age staying away from a group of boys making merry in a park simply because there is no other girl around to talk to and she has been preached to mind that difference.
This may appear a very trivial argument, based on a weak premise, but it is necessary not to let young girls worry about their sexual appearance, avoid physical contacts with boys, which is such an indispensable part of playing for kids, imitate adults about dressing and looking good. Give them some breathing space and opportunity to transform while they are supposed to undertake so much learning in that unspoiled, pure phase of life, called “Childhood”, which can help them become a good human being, not a subdued female who cannot express anything beyond a limit.
Readers are requested to think about this and see if they agree and can do something about it. On my part, I try to resist Slawaar Kameez as clothing for all young girls I know and can reach to.
Aapakaa,
Pankaj Dwivedi.
