Until very recently, there were rules that everybody stuck to when it came to clothing, especially in the workplace: men wore suits and women did too, unless they were secretaries, in which case they wore cardigans.  But now the clothing rules have broken down and in many places, new rules are being set and challenged.

In Singapore there is a law that says that ‘it is an offence to intentionally cause harassment, alarm or distress to another person through the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour or display of writing, signs or visual representations’ – conviction could lead to a maximum fine of $5,000. While the law is not generally enforced, a complaint about vulgar or offensive images, graphics or text on a T-shirt could be considered as grounds for prosecution. Then there’s the Sedition Act: Chapter 290 of the Statutes of Singapore which says that anyone who produces, sells, circulates or imports publications and utters speech or produces words that incite hatred, contempt and disaffection towards the Government, as well as promoting ill will and hostility between different races or classes, is liable on conviction for a first offence to a fine of up to $5,000 or a maximum of three years’ jail.

Many young Singaporean students buy cheap T-shirts in Bangkok to wear on campus when they return home. Inverted crucifixes pentagrams and imagery that could be seen as misogynistic are all common on Heavy Metal T-shirts which are worn by students and could be subject to either of these laws. Recent publicity for the laws suggests that there may soon be a clamp down on clothing that doesn’t satisfy the national rules.

In the USA the Urban Outfitters retailer has also had a brush with controversy. A vest bearing the legend Eat Less in white lettering was being shown on their website, modelled by an extremely waiflike young woman – but only a couple of days after it went on sale, it was withdrawn without any explanation. It seems that a deluge of complaints from people with eating disorders and from the parents of young women who felt the slogan could lead to anorexic behaviour caused the disappearance of the item.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.