Decadent clothing

Provocative dress
Improperly veiled women
Failure to wear chador
Exposure of face of women in public
Unisex fashions

Incidence

This is especially significant to religious fundamentalist groups, whether Christian or Moslem, with respect to the wearing of inappropriate and especially western clothing. It includes appearing in public without being full covered. Certain modern styles of clothing, whether worn by men or women, may also be viewed as decadent according to some political ideologies. In Iran the Islamic laws in 1993 prescribed up to 74 lashes for women who appear in public without wearing the hejab (a loose garment covering the shape of the body).

Claim

Women are symbolic of the nation and of the religious tradition and just as unveiling is the first step on a path that leads to her rape, so too the nation and the religion will find itself penetrated and dominated by evil forces.

In the Islamic tradition it is said that: When a woman reaches puberty, nothing should be exposed but her face and hands. Physical beauty should only be revealed to near relatives, to domestic servants, or to children.

Counter-claim

There is no injunction in Islam requiring women to wear a veil. In the Holy Prophet's time, women joined the prayers in the mosque without a veil, and the only separation was that they stood in separate rows behind those of the men. In the Pilgrimage, women were actually forbidden to wear a veil, as it was a mark of high rank.

The suggestion that males can be provoked by the clothes that females wear fails to take account of the sense of responsibility of women in selecting the clothes appropriate to the environment in which they find themselves.