By Bethsheba Achitsa
Published January 16, 2010

With trousers being the major outfit for most women, both teenage girls and middle aged women seem to be competing for attention, ushering in exhibitionism where women wear figure-hugging trousers, spaghetti tops and micro mini-skirts that leave many embarrassed.

Many urban centres are crammed with women whose dressing leaves very little to the imagination; women dressed in very tight trousers are the worst kind of persons to watch  while boarding public buses and matatus. Their not so well fitting clothes expose their bare bottoms to the embarrassment of many.

Away from the casual dressing, women are now going to the office in skirts that shy off way above the knees. They say their dressing makes them beautiful yet the very same women seem not too comfortable in these very clothes. Girls who have pierced their navels or have tattoos on their backs, breasts, arms or stomachs are always in ‘tumbo-cuts’ so that they display their expensive jewellery or intricate tattoo designs.

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Not even the church has been spared by these women who are dressed in revealing clothes with heavy facial make up and jingling jewellery. Normally these attention seekers are never early enough for the services; they make their grand appearance when all are seated and listening to the sermon. Perhaps for greater theatrical effect?

At first some women who dressed in handkerchiefs they called skirts were attacked and forcibly undressed by some men in some areas of Kenya, including Nairobi. The men who tore the women’s scanty dressing argued that they were assisting them by tearing their dresses so they could be really naked.

Young women and teenagers have taken exhibitionism a notch higher with the help of the ever improving technology. With social networking sites such as Facebook, Flickr and MySpace, among others, teenagers are exposing their nakedness to the world. Pictures of nude people have become a form of self expression on social networking sites. But nudity in the public arena seems to be more of a marketing gimmick than a punishable offence.

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Adolescents seem to be less aware of the imminent danger that these photos of them pose to their future life. When everything in the Google verse is available to everyone at the click of a mouse, young people need to think before posting pictures of themselves in the nude on the internet.

These photos could be a black mark to their names in the corporate setting. With more than 50% of employers looking for candidates through search engines, social networking sites and personal blogs, teenagers need to learn that what seems to be a badge of honour now would in future hurt their careers or relationships.