Modesty is Oppression??

So what if Rihanna chose to wear such a sheer dress that exposed her body? It is just her way of showing her confidence about her body and the way she wants the world to see her. Every woman has the right to dress the way she likes. This is the first step of female liberation because it makes them bold and feel beautiful...no crime in flashing some of her intimate parts for the benefit of the public...right?

While I am a strong supporter of female rights and women empowerment, I do have my reservations against such a torrid dress sense. Wearing minimal clothes is now becoming a thing of the past...we now have sheer dresses that actually don't need to be there in the first place. Such dresses are worn to keep the police at bay from arresting the wearer on charges of public nudity. What Rihanna and countless other celebrities are doing is that they are enticing the female population into defiling themselves in public and put themselves on display just like the Stone Age Woman, when the concepts of modesty and proper dressing were unknown. On the other hand, such a vulgar show of private parts is sure to provoke the male attention and make the ladies ever-so attractive to them, which is supposedly very good! You manage to do that without having to take your "clothes" off...even if you lost your dignity along the way :p

Many feminists fight that every woman should feel comfortable with her body and it is good that celebrities set the right example. But why does feeling comfortable involve wearing such non-existent clothes? If a woman wears a burqa or head scarf, then feminists are bound to kick up a riot over violation of female rights and protest that she is being suffocated. Do they forget that feeling comfortable about her body is every woman's right? If she feels happy covering herself then who are you to scream murder against it? If transparent clothes are the only way of feeling comfortable, then seriously I don't want to feel comfortable in the first place :p Islam is always under the target of such bull-headed feminists, who argue that Islam is  crushing women by keeping them covered up and women should be given freedom to take off the extra clothes. It is argued that Islam oppresses women by limiting them to a certain dress code. Okay, so lets shed some extra covering and then the woman will be free? I do believe she was free even with all the layers...she was free to pursue her daily activities and be herself.

In reality, parading around in transparent clothes might make her a sex symbol and get her labelled as a hot female, but will it really help her in progressing towards self-actualization and complete liberation? I guess that depends on how you view a woman's progress in society. So far, she has progressed towards adopting fake beauty standards, unhealthy dieting regimens, raunchy clothing and mindless fashion ideas. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think that even scratches the definition of progress. That is just blotting out the natural creativity and confidence, which a woman derives from her true self, regardless of her body, clothes and makeup! These extra gimmicks should boost her morale rather than bring her down into the dredges. She is told that if she does not have the "perfect body", then she doesn't deserve to be alive! If she does not have that slim long nose then she should get a surgery done or use a makeup technique to hide it. If she does not wear the latest trend clothes then she is shabby and not worth a second glance. Society forgets that her true worth lies in her inner beauty, her inner grace and her inner intellect, which does not need any props to blossom. She can do everything while wearing full clothes and she can achieve the best in life by being modest. Because modesty is certainly not oppression.