How low is your hemline?

I was there on Monday with hundreds of women walking the street of Nairobi to make a statement: That the days of people sitting back and having strangers control their everyday lives are gone.

In my life, the number of times I have donned a short number does not exceed five. This is not because I disapprove of short clothes; to each their own, I say.

It is because I feel more comfortable in trousers. In fact, until very recently, I didn’t own a dress.

So the reason I was out there in the sun had nothing to do with the hem length; the stripping of women of all ages has gone beyond clothes. It is about liberation.

It is about a few individuals imposing their preferences on the rest because they are too idle, too lazy to work, too low in self-esteem that the only way to feel significant is to use mob psychology and bully, stripping people who appear content of their dignity.

WATCH OUT

I shall quote a famous poem by Martin Niemoller on the Nazi uprising. “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out ­— because I was not a socialist/ Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist/ Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out ­— because I was not a Jew/ Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.”

So, as you sit there on your high horse thinking that you are safe because you do not dress provocatively, watch out, because once they are done with the short dresses, they will go for the hair — they will ask you to cut your hair because it is not African, then the walking style, then the job you do and trust me, at some point, you will fall into one of these categories.

My protest was not about me. That walk, I did it for my daughters, nieces and friends, so that they can walk the street without fear of offending some idler with their sneeze.

The hooligans posing as fashion police are not men, they are animals. Thus the argument that our fore-parents walked naked, that our mothers wore micro minis, Turkana’s are still walking naked, cannot suffice — you cannot reason with untrained animals.

REAL MEN

These are the same men who rape cows, chicken, donkeys — not because these animals dress provocatively, but because they have the same mind-set as those animals.  

Fortunately, they are few, so forget about painting all Kenyan men with the same brush. They say empty debes make most noise, and this is such one case.

I am married to a Kenyan man who bought the “mydressmychoice” T-shirt for me. I am privileged to know many men quite vocal against the injustice being inflicted on women.

On Monday, there was a good number of men who kept forming a ring around the women as the loud and drunk goons threatened to do their worst.

The procession, believe or not, was supported by men; they told us what to do and we did it, so let those accusing Kilimani Mums as a group of feminists forever hold their peace.

Yes, there are real men in Kenya, and they are the majority, but they need to use the tyranny of numbers to be heard.

VIOLENCE-RELATED GADGETS
If ever there was a time Kenyan women needed real men to stand up and get counted, it is now. If you have a mother, a sister, a female friend, a partner whom you respect, this is the time to speak loud and state your stand.

Violence, they say, does not solve violent problems but during the last three weeks, a few violence-related gadgets have been on my mind: like pepper spray, a knife, taser guns, real guns.

Can you blame me? Nobody wants to go down but if they go down, they want to go down fighting, but here is hoping Dr Willy Mutunga will, as he promised, arrest this scourge before we go down the violent route.

First, they came for the socialist…