But, as many of you have probably heard, Indonesia's Ministry of Religion have been on an anti-porn spree recently. I think it started with our infamous Minister of Communications or whatever his proper title is (see, I never get their proper titles translated properly), who went on his own anti-porn spree, allegedly having threatened RIM to ban BlackBerries if they don't make any effort to ban porn on their device.
Cheeky, cheeky.
But as the story goes, they're been trying to get porn banned from the net in Indonesia. Just like they've banned social networking sites in China (I hear). (Pity about those proxies, really.)
Campaigning against pornography isn't anything new, really, a lot of people do it for religious reasons. I just was hoping that our country hasn't fallen too far off the democratic scale to be weighing religion as the basis of our laws/constitution. Also, I just think it'd be rather pointless when I'm sure they'll come up with a way around it within a day or two. Really.
Of course, I do think that pornography is often demeaning and related to sex-crimes, etc, etc. We can go through the list, naming prostitution rings and girls being kidnapped from their hometown as modern day slaves, but there are a lot of (somewhat) respectable people working out of their own will and wants too. And that truly is a large crowd they cater to, imagine, half of the world population is male!
Besides, as much as I'd prefer my prospective lovers to not be enamored by porno stars, pornography is so common that you don't really think much of it anymore. I mean, it's kind of gross and off-putting personally to be watching other people going at it, but it's hard to find anyone who's never seen a porno.
Then of course there's the issue of it being some sort of a sinful act. It gets a bit worrisome when the government tries to make sure you don't go to hell for a minor misdemeanor, yes? I mean, it's one thing when your parents/school counsellor/religious preacher does it, it's just a bit of an overkill when the government tries to do it.
Anyway, enough about the anti-porno thing. It's not something I'm entirely against, anyway. See, what had me worried is the next move by the Religious Minister. He said something that sounded primevally misogynistic for 21st century (democratic) standard.
Here, direct quote via The Jakarta Globe:
“We think that there should be general criteria [on how women should dress], for example women’s skirts should pass their knees,” [Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali] said.
Well there's a hint for me to start cleaning out my closet. Off with ye' short skirts and hot pants.
I place dress codes in high regards, really, I do believe that clothes must suit the occasion, and that, yes, short skirts/shorts must not be worn anywhere formal/scared. Like to prayers and weddings. And the office.
But banning them altogether seems to be too much. I think there should be freedom to dress (appropriately). Of course, some short skirts are inappropriate for a lot of occasions, but banning them? Surely the women of my country knows how to dress properly most of the time.
Then again, a couple months ago, when a girl was raped on a public transportation, our city Governor made a remark about her wearing short skirts, which made her a target. I'm sure everyone's worried about safety and whatnot, but I don't think anyone who was raped deserved to be told that she/he was at fault. As a matter of fact, I don't think "she dressed provocatively" is a defense to anything.
I mean, what kind of shithole teaches its women to be carefully not to be raped instead of teaching its men NOT to rape?
"Girls, dress appropriately, otherwise it's your fault if men rape you."
Oh wow, I thought we got over that medieval mindset a good couple decades ago.
Really, you see girls lounging around in skimpy bikinis in broad daylight in front of the student HUB and it's not like someone comes up to them all of a sudden and tries to jump them for wearing such skimpy clothes.
The next time someone tells me "Oh, but our culture is different." to justify scantily clad women being raped, I'd love to punch them in the face. True, we have different standards of "scantily clad" and "public", but what kind of culture is OK with justifying rape? Rape is never justified.
Of course, the way some girls wear their skirts even at school these days are inappropriate. For the moral, self-respecting reason that you probably shouldn't let anyone see your knickers. But just because you could see their thighs, it doesn't mean you suddenly have a justified reason to lose all human sense and turn into some hormone-driven, nymphomaniac animal on mating season.
In fact, they could be in their birthday suits and no one, NO ONE would have the right to rape them.
I really do think dresses should be appropriate for the occasion, but there's no need to make us look like nuns because you can't keep your men well-educated enough to stay in line. By all mean, sir, do continue your quest to embed the moral ethics into our daily lives, but it'd be better if you choose your targets properly.
You could, perhaps, start by teaching the men basic moral obligations to protect women and not treat them like household goods. As far as I know, you shouldn't be able to trade us for goats/cows anymore. We might be a democracy, but beneath that glittering metropolitan that is Jakarta, the suffragettes have plenty of reason to come back fighting on the streets.
To end this post with a slightly less depressing take on sexism and gender-equality, here's one of my favorite comics from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal:
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