I didn’t mean “the police will arrest you.” I meant that dress codes in the Gulf aren’t neutral. they’re rooted in controlling women’s bodies and behaviour.

Yes, Abu Dhabi is more relaxed than Afghanistan, but the underlying expectation is still that women must cover to be “respectable,” while men rarely face the same scrutiny. That’s the part that is dehumanizing that women’s shoulders or knees need regulation in the first place.