An Islamic group in Nigeria, the Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has blamed the increase in reported rapes in the country on “women dressing indecently”.
According to statement signed by the group’s president, Ishaq Akintola, in response to a protest on rape staged by another group War Against Rape, WAR, the anti-rape protest was “a waste of time”.
He called on WAR to launch a campaign against indecent dressing, and asked women to stop exposing their “Allah-given ‘delicacies'”. He also said that those a woman’s dressing can cause her to “fall victim to a stray bullet”.
Members of WAR had staged the protest at the office of the Lagos State governor, Akinwumi Ambode, decrying the increase in rape cases in the state.
Below is the full statement.
Rape is on the increase mainly because moral bankruptcy has hit its peak. Women are no longer ashamed of exposing their bodies in public.
Even dresses which do not expose their bodies are sewn so tight that no one is left in doubt about the objective. It is the age of dress-to-kill. But women forget that many of them will fall victim of stray bullets.
Indecent dressing is a provocation and this is the issue which decent societies must address. MURIC invites WAR to launch a campaign against indecent dressing. The way you dress is the way you will be addressed. You cannot send out a letter without receiving a reply.
WAR should tell women to elevate their self-dignity. Why do they pose half-nude in adverts, magazine covers, etc? Why are women so willing to expose their Allah-given ‘delicacies’ to naked eye.
Women who elect to cut their blouses low at the front and their skirts outrageously short above the thighs have deliberately entered into a contract with men who are sick upstairs.
Women should be told in clear and unequivocal terms that indecent dressing constitutes sexual harassment.
