Why do YOU dress provocatively ?

Note this question is only for women who do dress provocatively on occasion or in general.

For the purposes of this question provocatively is defined as clothing that reveals more than mere cleavage or more than mere legs or skin. It is characterized by excessive cleavage, excessively tight clothing, excessively short clothing that reveals or nearly reveals one’s ass cheeks.

Okay you’re reading that and you’re pissed lol but HEAR ME OUT. I come from a conservative Christian family, and was always yelled at for wearing jeans that were too tight or tops that were too form fitting. I was a teenager with larger breasts and a great figure so even though I was innocent and not sexualizing clothing at all I was told I should not be so loose with my clothing. Shitty, I know I know. But that’s not my point either.

I’m in law school now and recently started wearing some “risque” clothes lately cause my body is bomb idgaf. I like the way I look, and I don’t mind and actually feel flattered by respectful attention. Particularly I wear crop tops and leggings particularly this one pair of leggings that has holes in it, ugh so cute but on my body type it gets me a lot of attention which I don’t mind as long as it’s respectful. Like it’s fine to look but don’t stare. It’s fine to give compliments but don’t cat call me. It’s fine to ask me to dance if we’re at the club but don’t feel up on my ass ya know? I don’t feel comfortable wearing overly provocative clothes because I feel like people look at me differently and I’m actually treated differently like I’m not a whole JD candidate who graduated summa cum laude in undergrad.

Anyway I guess my whole question is why do women wear provocative clothing? Is it because you like the attention? If you say it’s because you feel good about yourself in it what about provocative clothing makes you feel good about yourself? I’ve seen women say you should cover up more if you’re in a relationship, but the implication is that we dress provocatively to get men’s attention which to me isn’t true. The attention is auxiliary.

Update: Since people keep making ASSumptions, no I don’t wear crop tops and leggings to class. 🤦🏾‍♀️ But I do know a lot of people who do at my HBCU. And the same people who wear booty shorts and bralettes to class are the same people on Law Review working for big firms and corporations. We aren’t a traditional school. We wear head wraps, braids, Afros. We wear dashikis and speak in Ebonics if we so feel. It’s one of the RARE occasions where African Americans are able to fully express themselves and be themselves without respectability politics. But we know how to be professional, how to enunciate, how to conform just a little so much white America and corporate America don’t coward away. So y’all can really relax about standards of professionalism. It’s not relevant to me since I don’t dress provocatively at school and even more irrelevant since the culture at my school isn’t uptight as some of these commentators. I get degraded by people for wearing crop tops while walking my dog. I have to constantly prove my intelligence when I wear certain things because people make ASSumptions. Can’t be sexy, black, AND intelligent in this area. It’s too much for them to digest.