Ripped Jeans and Some Reflections by Tanushree Ghosh

The shredded jeans – or ripped jeans to be more apt – is taking Twitter by storm. It has become expectedly political too, with calls for resignation rising from the opposing party.

A gender issue, again in a country where gender rights are dismal. But is this a gender issue? Does a certain kind of thought, or moral expectation, out of women and women only, play a part here? Or is this merely a matter of lacking communication skills while trying to make a point on the importance of proper attire?

Well, that is hard to say at this point. Even though corporates too have dress codes and India has always been rather formal in the regard of how casual ‘casual Fridays’ can be, he did use the example of a woman – and failed to balance that with a counter-example of a man, and he did bring up the points on the onus of keeping values and culture in place – which in general in India are trigger points for our long history of being gender biased on who the onus falls on.

So, although it is quite a matter that we indeed put values on who wears what (remember the incident of Sudha Murthy being judged by women on whether or not she is business class material), or it is not too long ago (and probably constant) that all major political parties typecast and degrade women (remember ‘tainted and dented women’?), it is gender again lighting up the skies and not in a good way.

But what should and can be said, and is worth making note of is does this provide an opportunity of mere posting pictures with ripped jeans on (which definitely does make a point and has the PR power of catching up virally), or should this be used for a broader reflection on a few points.

First, not just gender – but on how we do segregate caste, class, and gender by: clothes. We are all guilty of making assumptions out of first impressions and attaching those assumptions to people.

What someone wears while entering a mall, or a restaurant, the quality and style of it, is used for efficient social segregation and safeguarding. It is presumptuous to take offense when that happens to a certain segment while continuing to do the same for the lesser fortunate.

So this is an opportunity to remind ourselves of noting what someone is wearing and leaving it at just that. It is tough, but if we do care on not being judged as unprofessional or un-sanskari for our ripped jeans, we have to give that dignity back to others. If someone is wearing something we consider ‘behenji’ or not ‘up to mark’, let’s remember of his or her right to do so, just as vigorously as we remember our rights to ripped jeans.

Second, taking offense where it matters the most. I might be solo in this opinion, but every day our nation is suffering gender setbacks that are worthy of Twitter storms. Those are not just this catchy.

So, it’s good that I want to change the thought of one individual who obviously said something that shows his thought, but is he alone? Does it matter what he says or thinks? Will it matter even if he resigns? If he hadn’t said what he said, do we truly believe that most men (and even women) holding political positions in our country are respectful of diversity, of women and their choices, and are non-judgmental?

No. It’s patriarchy and women, men, children, all – we are all conditioned and getting conditioned daily on sanskaar, values, gender roles, and gender behavior expectation. This outrage is great – only if it’s targeted towards the issue, not the individual.

So, let’s go ahead and post pictures on social media – but not just in ripped jeans. Let’s post wearing simple sarees. Let’s post wearing what no one would expect us to wear. Let’s post our men in lungis and dhotis and not just suits and t-shirts. But more importantly, let’s make some personal observations, and commitments to correct them.