Russian Dress Code Proposed

(Moscow, Russian) A Russian Orthodox cleric, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, has proposed that a nationwide dress code be imposed on the populace.

Chaplin on Tuesday stood by his contentious December comments that Russians need to take a leaf out of their Muslim brethren’s book and cover themselves up in line with a Russia-wide Orthodox dress code.

Chaplin, the chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for Relations between Church and Society, yesterday explained that it is not just up to a woman what she wears and that women in skimpy clothes are a target for rape and violence by men.

“A woman counting on an encounter in the street, on the metro, or in a bar, not only risks running into a drunk idiot, but also will find herself in the company of men who do not have a scrap of intelligence and self-respect. Perhaps she could happen upon a sober idiot, but then, is she searching properly?” asked Chaplin. “It is not a bad thing that companies, universities and schools have their own dress codes. It would be good to think up a Russia-wide dress code (at strip bars and brothels, so be it, it can be done without),” he said with an apparent witty flourish.[…]

“If a woman is wearing a mini-skirt, then she is provoking not only people from the Caucasus but also Russians. If on top of that she is drunk, it is even more provocative. If on top of that she herself actively provokes contact, and is then surprised that it ends in rape, then moreover she is not in the right.”

So, according to Chaplin, women in skimpy clothes promote rape -- even more so if they are drunk. Therefore, Russia needs a dress code.

Meanwhile, strip joints and brothels would be exempt from dress code requirements.