At one time, if the Catholic Church in Mexico issued a command, or opinion, its parishioners would obediently jump. Not so anymore, as Roman Catholic priest Rev. Sergio G. Roman learned recently.
When he issued an opinion that condemned miniskirts as “prostituting women,” the women didn’t docilely take his censorship to heart. Far from it. Instead of throwing the offensive garments in the trash, they marched in front of a city cathedral during last Sunday’s Mass.
Rev. Roman stepped into the feminine buzzsaw unwittingly as he prepared Catholics for a church family-values forum next year in Mexico City by expressing his outrage in an online church publication. "When we show our body without prudence, without modesty,” he wrote of the offending garment, “we are prostituting ourselves.”
THAT word and THAT idea were enough to raise the hackles of women’s rights advocates and Mexican newspaper columnists. It raised the age-old specter of women being responsible for abuse against themselves because of the clothes they wear – blaming the victim syndrome.
"It gives rapists permission to say, ‘Well, she had on a miniskirt,’" social commentator Guadalupe Loaeza said. "What the church says has credibility — that’s why this type of statement is so dangerous."
So they did what the word suggested — they took to the streets in their miniskirts and low-cut shirts. In front of the Cathedral. Carrying signs that read: "Clothed and naked, I am the same."
The archdiocese, in an attempt at damage control – another phenomenon that would have been unheard of a few decades ago – said Roman did not mean what the media says he meant. It was merely "moral guidance for the Catholic community."
In truth, Mexican women dress more modestly in most social occasions than the women in skimpy outfits often portrayed on Mexican television.
Roman’s statement also advised women not to get into "spicy" conversations with men if they wanted to avoid rape and violence: If you want to avoid sexual aggression … watch your glances … don’t be alone with a man, even if you know him … don’t permit spicy chats or jokes.
"It’s time we stop penalizing the victims," said Afola Shade, the director of Women’s Media Watch. "There are men raping babies. Can babies dress skimpily? I think it’s time we stop this foolishness now."