Indonesia Declares Miniskirts 'Pornographic," Seeks To Ban Them

Bad news today for cheerleaders, Britney Spears circa "Baby One More Time" and Courtney Stodden: Indonesia is trying to ban miniskirts because they're "pornographic."

Indonesia's religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali has been appointed to run Indonesia’s new anti-porn taskforce, and as he told reporters yesterday, he's starting by 86-ing "pornographic" short skirts:

"We will arrange meetings with different stakeholders from the public to get input on how they understand pornography, and I'm sure that they will come up with different definitions [of pornography]. However, there must be a set of universal criteria to define something as pornographic, of which one will be when someone wears a skirt above the knee,."

Above the knee? Please! Any girl who went to high school and tried to flout dress code knows that a short skirt is anything above fingertip length.

Officials in the island nation have previously spoken out about a need for women to dress more modestly in an attempt to prevent crime. Earlier this year, the country’s parliamentary speaker Marzuki Alie made some audacious claims about the connection between provocative dress and rape, saying:

“There have been a lot of rape cases and other immoral acts recently and this is because women aren't wearing appropriate clothes...You know what men are like. Provocative clothing will make them do things."

Alie's comments, naturally, received hefty condemnation from women's groups.

Indonesia, a heavily Muslim nation, has a history of requiring strict dress for women; First Lady Michelle Obama also sparked controversy in 2010 when she shook a male government official's hand.

Read more details about the proposed miniskirt moratorium over at the Sydney Morning Herald.