A conversation with a beloved girlfriend very recently striked the idea of this post. It is about, as the title may suggest, short-skirted girls; zooming in closely on Malay girls especially.
In a typical Malay society, 'short-skirt wearing' girls are pretty much still being judged upon. Deny it or not, like it or not- it's still happening.
Scenario A.
A beautiful woman, dressed in a short skirt with a sexy slit at the back made huge sales at her work place.
The first thing that comes to a typical Malay mind: "Hmpphh..eleh..dia tu..memang la boleh juai benda..dok pi menayang peha betih (betis) sana sini dok pakai skirt pendek yang tak cukup kain tu.."
Reality check: She's a smart woman, whom probably was a nerd in school but happens to have a lot of money to beautify herself with beautiful clothes to enhance her image. However the sales were made based on her skills and intelligence of convincing her customers. No form of flirting, sex, or other nonsense was involved.
Scenario B.Cik Jah has a son, a graduate who is currently working in a big firm, earning very well and is looking for a suitable candidate to be his loyal and legal wife.
Cik Jah and son is looking out for options so they attend social gatherings, kenduri, parties (parti tupperware kot?) etc2.
Cik Jah met Aunty Liza who has a newly graduated daughter a beautiful single girl named Irina, who sets her dyed hair beautifully and often found to be wearing elegant dresses and short sassy skirts. Aunty Liza and family are Muslims and practices Islam as a way of life (perform prayers, read the Al-Quran, perform Umrah/Hajj etc) only that they are liberal minded and are not strict in terms of dressing or wearing the hijjab/veil. Irina performs her daily prayers without fail, reads the Holy Quran whenever she can, and is a strong believer.
Then along came Cik Kiah who brought her single daughter a Law graduate from International Islamic University named Fatima. Cik Kiah, a very conservative Muslim believes that her daughters should be fully covered up and in no circumstances should they refuse to wear their veils/hijjab. Else they will get into trouble.
In actual fact, Fatima loves wearing skimpy clothes and takes off her veil whenever she can especially when she is out of her parents' sight. Fatima is an alcoholic and goes out drinking every other night, her parents have no idea about this. She only performs her prayers when her parents forces her to, she is not a strong believer.
Question: Whom will Cik Jah and bachelor son perceive as to be the most suitable candidate to be the future wife for her beloved son?
Answer: Of course Cik Jah and son saw Fatima as the most suitable candidate to become a wife. (No guesses lah, that wasn't hard was it?)
No matter how good we girls are, and no matter how strong our beliefs are,even if we pray and we don't drink etc. as long as we are wearing our short skirts, we will not be seen as a 'wife material', and will always be the girl in the short skirt. (According to the typical Malay perspective).
But being a hypocrite is worse than wearing a short skirt..SO yes girlfriends..let's go shopping for more short skirts!
Jom beli skirt pendek banyak-banyak! :) Yeay!