Women, men can dress as they please

Re: “Hollywood galas and those dresses” (Letters, Jan. 10)

Having taught at both the secondary school and university levels for over 40 years, I no longer shock easily.

That said, I was shocked by the letter in which the writer agrees with the entertainment industry’s condemnation of boorish behaviour by some men, and yet questions the wearing of “dresses clearly intended to provoke an eyebrow-raising response.”

Are we still, in 2018, blaming victims in any way for being victims?

While someone may indeed dress in a way that to an observer may seem provocative, that I’m afraid says more about the observer than the wearer.

Every adult — female or male — should be entitled to wear whatever makes her/him feel great. Clothing choices are simply reflective of the wearer’s tastes.

As observers, we may not agree with their choices, nor they with ours, but to suggest that this in any way is to be equated to sexual self objectification is right up there with that outdated old saw that a particular female deserved the sexual assault she was subjected to because her skirts were too short or her décolletage too low. Kathleen Kristof Biggs, St-Sauveur