Women's clothes?

[MTL]

I would not be attracted to him. My hormones might respond as hormones will do, but my mind and my heart would not want to be near him, much less be seen with him.

Who am I to speak?  I don't need to wear skimpy clothes. Skimpy clothes are for women who lack confidence. Female beauty is for men who appreciate it and that's not every bloke I pass by on the street.

I call bullshit. This is what we are raised to believe. If we dress in a certain way it means we have certain negative qualities. It's a load of shit.

Can we just let people dress however they want to dress without making character judgements on them? Why is that so hard.

Theoretically speaking, I agree, Losty,
however I certainly understand what Rhonda is saying, too.

For example, there have been times that people have judged me simply as a lazy slob for not looking my best.
So you would be right about that, Losty,
because they were wrong about me being a slob....
...what I was, was massively depressed.

However, Rhonda could also be argued to be right, in a scenario like that:
But the negative quality that she would assess might not be "lazy slob",
but rather "someone with no self-respect".

And while that might be cruel-sounding,
it would still be correct;
because at that point, I had no self-worth.

I think people should have the freedom to dress as they please
without risk of harassment;

and I think it's great to encourage people to recognize the difference
between PASSING JUDGMENT vs. EXERCISING JUDGMENT;

but it kind of comes back to the discussion about rape, and blaming the victim:

We don't tell young women to be street-smart and be safe
because it would be "their fault" if they made a bad choice and got raped...

...but rather, we encourage them to be safe
because we just want to lower their odds of being raped, at all.

Because no matter how much punishment is meted-out to the rapist,
you are, at that point, still a rape victim.

You can't un-ring a bell.

Rape is part of your life story at that point,
and that's all we're trying to prevent.

It's not about blaming the victim...it's about preventing you from becoming a victim, in the first place.

In the same way,
If you dress a certain way,
and people pass judgment on you,
then that makes THEM the judgmental assholes...
....it doesn't make YOU whatever label it was that they were prepared to apply to you.

However, that said,
it is a little self-contradictory
to insist on having the freedom to use your clothing to express yourself...

...and then getting upset because someone misinterpreted your message.

People shouldn't ascribe negative qualities to you, based on superficial things, true...

...but on the other hand, you can't blame other people for failing to understand you,
simply because you misrepresented yourself, either.

It's why we dress professionally going to a job interview.