Out of the closet and into The Gardens

What stroke me most about yesterday’s Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week held at The Gardens, was the number of she-boys and tom boys in attendance. An irony after the recent fatwa (edict) on tom boys and lesbianism here.

I suppose many of them took this opportunity to express who they are by using fashion as an excuse, not that they ever needed one. I’ve seen many of them all over Kuala Lumpur, particularly in shopping malls, as most of them tend to work in the clothing line.

The only difference last night was how comfortable they looked. It was almost as if they owned the event. One of my friends grumbled that this was definitely the wrong place to look for a single man!

I think that we can continue to speak for or against effeminate men and “unfeminine women”, it will not make any difference at all. It’s all too late. I think young Malaysian urbanites have evolved and whatever anyone says will not stop them from being who they are.

Religious and cultural intolerance are only effective in terms of keeping them in the closets but not in their secret gardens. If we can’t see something, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

To me, religions that are practised here today do not seek to address issues, but rather hide them. There is a tendency for religious authorities to believe that the only solution to anything they considered unsavoury is to prohibit it, as if the problem will disappear once an edict is issued.

I can’t help but think that clothes are not the only items they keep in their closets.