Lifestyle

Is There Anything Wrong With NBA Wives Telling Women To Dress Modestly?

by Joseph Milord
Instagram

Russell Westbrook's wife, Nina Westbrook, has brought us back to familiar territory.

Rewind back to the holiday season and you might remember Ayesha Curry, wife of NBA champion and reigning MVP Stephen Curry, sending out this notable tweet about dressing modestly.

Everyone's into barely wearing clothes these days huh? Not my style. I like to keep the good stuff covered up for the one who matters — Ayesha Curry (@ayeshacurry) December 6, 2015

The post was retweeted over 67,000 times and "liked" over 90,000 times, and those numbers don't even include the amount of times Mrs. Curry's tweet was quoted (and subsequently liked), which would give added perspective on just how many eyeballs her comment reached.

The figures do however make one thing clear: Her tweet sent shockwaves throughout the social sphere and people gathered in numbers to comment accordingly.

Actually, that's putting things modestly. All hell broke lose on Twitter.

There were those who vehemently disagreed.

There were others who vehemently agreed.

Pretty much everyone had something to say, even celebrities got in on the action.

This time around, Nina Marie Westbrook has started a similar conversation.

It all started with this Instagram post:

 Predictably, that post has stirred the pot as well.

Westbrook's post has flown under the radar, of course, compared to Curry's December tweet. And that's understandable.

Everyone got to know Ayesha Curry last summer, along with Steph Curry and their daughter Riley, as they all became somewhat of the first family of basketball during and after the NBA Finals.

Still, even looking past their status as NBA Wives, it can be argued that both are role models -- Nina through her time as a basketball player at UCLA and Ayesha because of her recent increase in visibility and television appearances.

So, both social media posts beg the same question. Is there really anything wrong with these women advising others to dress modestly?

It's an interesting question, one that probably has too much of a nuanced answer to arrive at here. One thing we can say, safely, is the notion of women (or any group of people, for that matter) having to do X, Y and Z to "gain the respect of others" is outdated.

It's also a notion that's conducive to victim blaming. You know the kind. "Well if she wasn't wearing that short skirt, maybe he wouldn't of...", nope. We're not having any of that here.

The rest is far from this writer's responsibility to decide, but these posts sure do provoke some interesting responses.

 

 

Citations: Russell Westbrook's Wife on IG Encourages Ladies to Dress Appropriately (Photos) (Black Sports Online)