GENDER & SOCIETY · SOUTH AFRICA
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POLICING WOMEN'S CLOTHING DOESN'T PROTECT THEM
Social media personality Katlego Moagi aka Citizen Concerned recently sparked debate after suggesting that girls wearing mini skirts to school makes them "prime victims" for grooming and assault. The implication was clear... what a girl wears contributes to the danger she faces. It's a familiar argument. It's also deeply harmfuL.
MODEST DRESS HAS NEVER STOPPED A PREDATOR
MODEST DRESS HAS NEVER STOPPED A PREDATOR
Here's the uncomfortable truth that gets left out of these conversations: girls in long skirts get assaulted too. Women in conservative dress get assaulted too. No predator has ever stopped targeting a victim because of fabric length. Clothing is not a shield and pretending it is doesn't protect anyone. It just shifts blame onto the victim.
What modesty-policing actually does is teach girls, from a young age, to distrust their own bodies. It tells them that their natural expression — dancing, dressing freely, existing confidently — is somehow dangerous. That they are the problem to be managed, not the men who choose to cause harm.
THIS IS HOW RAPE CULTURE OPERATES
THIS IS HOW RAPE CULTURE OPERATES
When someone argues that certain clothes "invite" harassment, they are doing exactly what rape culture demands: making women responsible for men's behaviour. It hands abusers a ready-made excuse and courts, families and communities have used these same excuses for generations to dismiss, minimise, or justify abuse.
Notice, too, what is never said in these conversations: nobody is telling boys to control themselves. The entire weight of prevention is placed on girls, what they wear, how they move, how visible they allow themselves to be.
THE REAL DANGER OF THIS NARRATIVE
THE REAL DANGER OF THIS NARRATIVE
Beyond the logical failure, there's a deeper cost. Girls who are constantly told their bodies are provocative or shameful don't grow up feeling safe, they grow up feeling responsible for other people's violence. That internalised shame follows them into adulthood, into relationships, into how they report (or don't report) abuse.
If your loudest concern is the length of a schoolgirl's skirt rather than the predator in your community, you are not protecting girls. You are protecting the culture that enables their harm.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Clothing has never determined whether someone becomes a victim of assault — predators choose to assault regardless of what someone is wearing.
Framing girls' clothing as a risk factor shifts responsibility onto victims and away from perpetrators (the core mechanism of rape culture).
Body-shaming girls from a young age causes lasting psychological harm and discourages survivors from coming forward.
The absence of accountability messaging directed at boys and men reveals the double standard at the heart of these arguments.
Protecting girls means addressing predatory behaviour in communities, not policing what girls wear to school.
Disclaimer:
I am not your therapist, attorney, or doctor. I cannot diagnose you, represent you, prescribe anything, or replace professional support. What I can offer in good faith is a thoughtful perspective from someone who understands the social, cultural, and political landscape most of us are navigating in South Africa, without judgment, without an agenda, and without compensation.
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