Do creeping hemlines lead to creeping sharia?

Probably because I am so accustomed to reading about dress codes under Sharia Law, yesterday I was annoyed to read that police in New York are telling women not to wear shorts or short skirts.

At the same time, I recognize that police have no authority to tell people what to wear, as long as they aren’t violating laws against nudity or something. It’s probably worth noting that in San Francisco, there’s a current problem with men sitting around naked on public benches, but I guess that raises the additional issue of public health.

I didn’t have time to make sense or nonsense of New York hemlines but Ann Althouse has:

You’d think by now the cops would have figured out how to broach this touchy subject. Look at this response from the woman quoted at the first link: “I can’t wear shorts? Besides the fact that I wasn’t wearing anything that was inappropriate or provocative…. I don’t think that should be part of the problem. At all.” Of course, she’s right, but the annals of crime are full of innocent victims. The cops would like to encourage people to defend against crime, but advice from an authority figure feels like a restriction of your freedom… which the police know and use to control people.

There is a difference between telling someone what to wear and offering friendly advice. I don’t know where to draw the line. Crime itself can be a form of control. I remember years ago getting hopelessly lost somewhere in a large urban slum in New Jersey, and I had unthinkingly made two mistakes:

1. I was dressed up, and
2. I was driving my mom’s very cutesy little Mazda Miata convertible.

Not wise under the circumstances (although I had not planned to get lost where I did). Anyway, I drove around completely lost until finally I saw what seemed like reassuring surroundings at the time. There was a crumbling garage (all covered with the usual graffiti), and a big fat, heavily-tattooed, mean-looking biker staring at me incredulously, and next to him was a pit bull on a chain! I pulled right in to ask for directions, but before I could say anything the biker guy came running up and said,

“HEY! YOU ARE IN A BAAAD NEIGHBORHOOD!”

He meant well, of course, and it was obvious I should not have been there looking like I did, or driving what I was driving. He knew intuitively that I knew this full well, so he didn’t give me a lecture on proper neighborhood attire; he simply gave me excellent directions on the best way out and I was very grateful.

Now, had I been an idiot and stopped to ask directions from a group of teenage muggers, or had my mom’s Miata run out of gas, that would not have justified any crime committed against me.

There is a fine line between giving advice and blaming the victim, and it involves common sense. The biker guy who helped me out had infinitely more common sense than New York’s clueless cops, who may mean to be helpful, but if they keep telling women what to wear will begin to sound like Mutaween.

No doubt there are blame the victim choruses on both sides of the sharia issue. And there’s no doubt I don’t have time for them.

AFTERTHOUGHT: Should police also be telling men not to wear shorts or male cross dressers not to wear short skirts? Or would that be so “fair” that it would constitute some sort of double reverse discrimination?

(Exclusion and inclusion are both forms of discrimination, and it is very complicated.)