A freelance model from the Philippines has apologized (even though she didn’t need to) to the people of Singapore, some of whom took offense at the revealing outfit she was spotted wearing at Singapore’s Somerset MRT station.
Pictures were taken of her (without consent) as she stood behind a man at a POSB ATM machine at the MRT station, and the images made its way onto Facebook on Saturday. While some netizens made presumptions about her profession, others judged her ultra-casual fashion choice — a thin tank top that covered her short shorts.
As risqué as her garb may be, the more disturbing element here should be the fact that someone thought it would be fine to snap a couple of pictures of her and post them up online, even though she’s not doing anything illegal or harming anyone.
The prudish sentiments and outfit-shaming got to the point that even Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao deemed it newsworthy. The publication made it a point to report that she was not wearing a bra and that she had been unaware of attracting disapproving stares from passersby. Wanbao even got a lawyer to comment that she was liable of violating public order with her outfit.
“It was not my intention”
Though she could be considered the victim in this one, the lady took to Facebook to apologize for any offense caused by her attire.
“I am sorry if you think that this was an ‘indecent exposure’ but it was not my intention,” wrote Ashley Garcia, a freelance model, according to her Facebook page. Stating that she wasn’t aware that photos had been taken of her, Garcia assured that she was wearing shorts and that she had nipple tapes on under the tank top.
Thanks to her pictures going viral on social media, she was subjected to cyber-bullying and threats by several people, Garcia wrote. Nonetheless, she had a pretty mature response to her attackers.
“To those people who are already hitting me below the belt and criticizing me (for) something, I respect you. You are already telling things which are too personal that is already outside of what you see in the picture.”
