Isn’t choice of attire a personal liberty?

I am so disturbed by Mona Charen’s column in the May 9 Herald that I feel compelled to respond. (“Attire waves a red flag”).

Initially, the premise of the column seemed innocent enough – the trend among female youth to clothe themselves in the most minimal attire possible. I am puzzled myself by some of the current fashions. Yet, I remind myself that one of the many liberties we enjoy by being citizens of the United States is the freedom to choose what we wear. Would Charen prefer that females in the USA be confined to the type of dress code the Afghanistan women endure?

Further along in the column, Charen pointedly refers to weight as an indicator of the level of offensiveness: “A bikini top with shorts was common attire (even on very overweight girls) ….” I am a 5’, 110 lb. female. I can only imagine what larger-sized females must be thinking after reading her column. Drawing attention to weight as an indicator of who should wear what is extremely ill mannered and in poor taste.

Charen closes her column by stating her opinion that females wearing skimpy clothing deserve any lascivious behavior directed their way: “It’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull and then complaining when he charges.” Charen ought to re-educate herself on The Constitution of the United States of America, most notably the Bill of Rights, Article I, in which is outlined each and every U.S. citizen’s right to freedom of speech (I believe clothing is a representation of speech, is it not?). Additionally, I think she should rent The Accused. Charen puts women to shame.

Snohomish

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