I had just parked my car and was walking across the car park to the eastern entrance of Sheraton Mall.Walking in front of me were two women, one of whom wore an extremely short skirt, which was made of a light material. With every step, she was trying to hold the skirt to prevent it from blowing up but the wind was winning the battle.
As she climbed the steps, she struggled to keep the skirt down, and I asked: “Why yuh trying to keep it down for? You dun know you put on that skirt to show off de stuff, stop pretending! If yuh uncomfortable wearing it, why yuh put it on in the first place?”
The woman looked at me, “cock up” she eye, steupsed and walked away.
I was brought up as a child believing that a woman’s body is honourable, sacred and should be respected.
Over the last ten years, I have recognized that more and more females wear less and less clothing in public, most of which is very provocative, seductive and enticing.
In the early years, only a few women were guilty of this practice but these days we are seeing children, teenagers, young adults, adults and even the over-40s participating in this distasteful practice. Many may not see this as a problem, but I see it as a threat to what little is left of our national morality, decency and ethical standards.
The three hardest things on this earth to control or master are your appetite (stomach), your tongue and your sex drive. We are slowly losing the “stomach” battle as Barbados is ranked in the top 20 fattest countries in the world. We are slowly losing the battle of the tongue as many of our citizens use their mouths as weapons to curse and degrade others and it seems like we are losing the sex drive battle as more and more young people are participating in sexual activities from a young age and Barbados has one of the highest HIV rates in the region.
Men and women were created differently (even though a feminist group on Facebook would argue otherwise).
Men are stimulated quicker by what they see while women are by what they hear. Each day as I travel through this country, I am constantly surrounded by breast, leg and thigh as if I were working at a fast-food restaurant. As a male, I am turned on by what I see, but as a man, I am quickly turned off.
As a man, I have standards, one of which is, a woman of value dresses with honour and decency.
Many men like to view all the flesh being displayed but don’t want to own it. I was sitting on a block chatting with some fellas a while back and one of them said to me: “Corey, in a few years I am going to settle down and marry a clean, decent Christian girl.” I asked him whatwas wrong with the girls he dealing with? He responded: “None uh dem cuh neva be my personal girl, furthermore, my personal girl can’t leff home so.”
I have questioned a few females as to why they wear this type of clothing and I generally get two answers: this is what the stores selling and this is the style that wearing.
As sad as this response is, it is true.
Last December, I spent four days trying to find a dress for my wife to wear to a wedding. I was so disappointed and frustrated that almost every single store I visited only had dresses with a low neck, which was designedto reveal cleavage.
I find it quite amazing that there are some things in our possession that we value so much that we would not show or share with the public, yet some women show and share their bodies with every Tom, Dick and Harry.
I know some males love to see women exposing their bodies but I am one who does not. While men see breast and flesh, I see low self-esteem, low self-pride, lack of identity and low self-worth.
Corey Worrell is a former Commonwealth youth ambassador.
