By Helen-Joyce Enow
In a town where indecency sells, parents and schools are helpless as it has become a growing trend among millennial in Buea irrespective of an inter-ministerial ban a decade ago.
Roseline Atonqui, 25, a University of Buea, UB student, believes that she can only belong in society if she dresses indecently. That is because wearing dresses that expose some strategic parts of her body is the only way she is going to draw attention from men.
The nursing student sees no problem wearing whatever thing she wants. She dresses so even in school, though the University has a dressing code.
“I am in accordance with the notion that youths need to look good by dressing and exposing parts of their body,” Roseline says, “because, looking good is good business.”
To her, she “ought to dress in order to attract.”
Indecency in Buea seems to be a growing trend among young girls. It is very common to see youths wearing revealing clothing like sagging pants, and oversized shirts, exaggerated makeups, long artificial nails, among others. These kinds of looks are leaving parents and schools officials worried.
“This trend has left both male and female students with an unkempt appearance,” Dr Agbor Matelot, UB Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, Guardian Counsellor tells The POST. Dr Agbor regrets the misplacement of good Anglo-Saxon values such as good dressing conduct.
“Dressing habits nowadays are terrible,” he says, “especially in the school milieu. Students need to tame their mind-sets and be conscious of the fact that, they are in a school environment and need to accustom themselves with the required dressing code,” states the Guardian Counsellor. To him, this can be curbed if security officials are strict and sensitisation campaigns on good dress code reinforced.
Irrespective of the rampant indecency in town, some young girls think decent dressing is good. Unlike Roseline Atonqui who believes in indecent dressing, Bola Chelsi, 19, a student, says she cannot were ‘destroy’ trousers, skimpy skirts and crop-tops and walk around town.
Indecency, she says, “is really disappointing” and “doesn’t reflect well” on the community and schools which should have been “setting examples for others to follow.”
The rate at which indecency is growing in Buea makes Fon Ndikum, a father of four, scared. It’s a problem that needs to be addressed among the youths and parents, he thinks.
“I Am emotionally disturbed as a father, when I see young people dressing so shabbily, especially young girls exposing their body parts like their breast, cleavages, wearing all sorts of chains and toe rings without knowing their significance, all in the name of fashion,” says Ndikum.
Parents, he stressed, need to play a pivotal role in the upbringing of their children.
“So, we need to start setting higher standards for ourselves and our community, and that starts with how we dress,” he adds.
Another parent in Buea, Mama Hedrine, a nurse by profession and mother of five says: “Dressing nowadays is terrible than Sodom and Gomorrah. I wonder if they even take a look of themselves before leaving their houses. Young girls who are very beautiful, but due to crazy make ups, turn to look like scarecrows.”
She says she has put down strict principles in her home on her children can wear and what dresses she buys for them.
“I also cross-check their dress boxes because they might buy and hide them without me knowing,” she adds. To her, charity begins at home.
In 2013, owing to the alarming rate of indecency in the country, four ministries including: Women Empowerment and Family; Arts and Culture, Territorial Administration; Communication, launched a campaign to crackdown on indecent dressing among youths in the country.
In 1976, an article was enacted in the country’s Penal Code that established what people are to wear and violators can be fined up FCFA 2 million and risk a prison term of maximum two years. Despite the inter-ministerial campaigns, much is yet to be done as the rate of indecency in the country is growing.