Emancipation in Persepolis

These posts bring to mind a cartoon I've recently seen and discussed with a few of my peers. 

This image directly relates to the postings of EmmaBE and shainarobin because, like them, the women in the cartoon also are confused about the "emancipation" that women gain by wearing different types of dress. The woman on the right is told that her being fully clothed gains her emancipation from the male gaze, while the woman on the left believes that by freely showing her skin, she is emancipated from the restrictions of how women "should" dress.

Relating to a current struggle I am dealing with, I cannot find a medium between the views of these two women when it comes to my own dress. I recently experienced a situation in which, on a very hot day, I wore a strapless floral dress that stopped a few inches above my knees. I felt very comfortable and beautiful in the dress. However, when getting my food in Erdman, a few (about six) of the male workers starting making kissing noises and other remarks as I walked past their table. My mood and level of comfortability immediately deflated, and not sure of how to respond, I said nothing. Instead, when I got back to my table I hastily grabbed my denim jacket and put it on; I no longer wanted to get up/ walk around in the same dress I once felt lovely in (no matter how badly I needed ketchup for my fries). 

On one hand, I would love to show as much skin as I feel comfortable in, but I know that I would be subjecting myself to numerous (and often disgusting) male glances. On the other hand, I feel like covering myself up more would eliminate that issue, but then I'd be forcibly muffling my own identity by dressing in a way that I would not usually prefer. With that said, I am not at all sure of how free or "emancipated" I am when I get dressed every morning, because I am either subjecting myself to self-restriction, or unrestricted (and quite frankly, gross) male responses. Not quite sure of which is worse.