"Ooh Sexy, Sexy..."

As summer rolls around, it is getting pretty darn hot over here in South Africa. Knowing that I was going to embark on hours of walking the other day, I decided to finally break out my shorts. As I was walking around I noticed that I didn't see any other women wearing shorts... although not all, most of the women here wear skirts. But some still wear pants and on rare occassion I will see younger women wearing shorts.
But today, I didn't see anybody. This made me a bit self-conscious. I already rolled down the hem of my shorts to make them as long as possible... Maybe no one else was wearing shorts because they knew the afternoon was going to end in pouring rain.
During my long journey I had to walk faster and faster to avoid eye contact with all the men calling to me, asking me where I was from, trying to get me to walk with them. Because I am obviously foreign I get this often... but this time it was ridiculous, almost frustrating.
I thought it must have been the shorts. Man, was that a mistake. At the end of the day I was talking to someone and realized that yes, my issue was the shorts. You see, to the Zulu the thighs are the most sexual part of the woman's body. Showing your thighs is a huge turn-on as they are seen as highly private and beautiful. You could walk around completely bare-breasted and people probably wouldn't care. Boobs out? No problem. Thighs showing? Well, then you have a parade of men following you around town. Go figure.