Kota Baru men get dressing-down?

It seems that the Kota Baru municipal council had issued a circular to warn Muslim women employees working in food outlets and other business premises not to wear lipstick and high-heeled shoes.

 

Specifically, according to a Bernama report, ‘Muslim women were forbidden to wear thick make-up, bright coloured lipstick and high-heeled shoes which made a tapping sound.’

 

The stated reason for this directive: ‘to prevent incidents like rape and illicit sex as well as to safeguard the morals and dignity of Muslim women in Kelantan.’

 

If it is true that such a circular was issued, the implications of this ruling are quite worrying, particularly for Malaysian men in general and Kota Baru men in particular because it appears to suggest that these men:

 

1. are too vulnerable;
2. are simply excitable;
3. are easily stimulated by the sound of high-heeled shoes;
4. are incurable sex fiends;
5. are unable to resist red, kissable lips;
6. possess runaway galloping hormones;
7. have always and only one thing on their minds;
8. do not have strong moral restraint;
9. yearn for short-term pleasures and forgo long-term life ambitions; or
10. all of the above.

 

Given the implied qualities of men above, one wonders how the dignity of Muslim women in Kelantan can be protected and promoted if the latter seem to be heavily perceived by these men as sex objects and potential seducers.