In a city where caning and stoning are still acceptable forms of punishment, a law forbidding pants should come as no surprise to the residents. Those found guilty of committing adultery are liable to be stoned to death, and homosexuals can find themselves serving long jail sentences or being publicly lashed for their sexual orientation. These barbaric practices are just the tip of the iceberg in a place where kissing in public, drinking, and gambling are also strictly forbidden and strictly enforced. Most recently, Aceh, a strict Muslim city in Indonesia, enacted a “Tight Pants Ban,” forbidding any woman from wearing pants in the city. This is all part of a new ban to forbid the wearing of revealing clothing, partnering with a previously enacted law requiring women to wear headscarves in public.

The practice of headscarves and modest clothing is not new, nor is it that hard to understand. While we don’t live in a culture that regards revealing clothing as being offensive (although sometimes, it is) it’s easy to understand why some people would prefer to cover up. However, many female residents of Aceh think this law goes too far. Pants are not revealing, nor are they, in women’s opinions, immodest or inappropriate in any way. In a city where most residents commute by motorbike, pants are the most practical option. Or it was, since now women caught wearing pants must surrender them to the authorities and change into a skirt, followed by a police report and a talk with an Islamic preacher. For women who repeat the offense more than twice, a two-week jail sentence is possible. Stores are now forbidden from selling pants or short skirts, if they are caught with the merchandise they risk revocation of their business license.

While I can see the logic behind viewing short skirts and tight dresses as forms of immoral clothing, I find it hard to label pants as “revealing.” They’re pants! If anything, it’s far more appropriate to sit on a motorbike in pants then it is to wear a skirt, not to mention it’s more comfortable and probably safer. If you want your women to cover up, fine. But in a place where stoning someone to death for adultery seems like a good idea, I can’t even imagine what they’ll think of next. First stoning, then banning pants. In a place that asks for respect and tolerance of their beliefs, at the very least they should have beliefs worth respecting. Violating human rights is not something to be respected or tolerated, and that’s exactly what, in the grand scheme of things, Aceh does with their ridiculous laws.

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