African Girls Criticised For “Copying West”

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30588, 3 November 1964, Page 2

African Girls Criticised For “Copying West”

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

NAIROBI (Kenya), Nov. 2. The modern African girl, who has changed her loin cloth for stretch pants and high heels, is under fire in Kenya for aping the modes and morals of the West. An African student who recently returned from Europe sparked the battle of the sexes with an indignant letter to a newspaper. He accused the girls of being “merely gimmicks of Western civilisation” and charged they were more interested in money than happy marriage. “They measure love in terms of envelopes full of pink, blue or green notes,” George Mukuda wrote. “This cheap approach has led many African young men to forget about marriage,” he said, advising the girls to “readjust their attitudes in line with life’s realities.” “Just look at some of their dresses,” said another student, John Gitiha. “They are too suggestive and should not be worn in good society.”

In Nairobi, he said, they are known as “just because” dresses—“just because I want you to love me.” The spread of prostitution —“unknown in traditional African society”—has been deplored. Girls’ Defenders’ The girls, however, have their defenders. “There are loose girls everywhere, regardless of colour or race,” wrote Timan Njugi. “These attacks on African girls are giving the world the wrong impression.” Another reader said that white women spend considerable sums having their hair waved, spend hours in the sun acquiring a nice dark colour, and “have reached the advanced stage of social evolution where high fashion dictates they must expose their bosoms to the world in the topless dress.

“Their African counterparts are evolving in exactly the opposite way.”