On Wednesday morning around 60 female activists and their supporters, including men, gathered at the Uganda National Theatre in Kampala. In a peaceful protest organised by the End Mini-Skirt Harassment Coalition, the women, many clad in black miniskirts and above-the-knee dresses, carried signs that read "Thou shall not touch my miniskirt", and "Lokodo hold your libido". The gathering was spirited, just as the response to the so-called miniskirt ban, which was supposedly signed into law on 6 February under the Anti-Pornography Act, but is now being withdrawn by the cabinet for review, has been tongue-in-cheek. "Uganda should dress its population in nothing but onesies," wrote the organisers of Kampala's monthly FashionCorps event on their Facebook page. "These ubiquitous adult baby-gros cover up those naughty breasts, buttocks and thighs and as an unexpected side-benefit they quickly dampen any sexual ardour between wearers, whatever their gender."

But the realities of the apparent law are no laughing matter. According to a report by Uganda's New Vision newspaper, in the eastern part of the country, seven men were arrested for allegedly targeting women in miniskirts and stripping them naked. The women were said to be on their way to church at the time. According to a report in the Daily Monitor, mobs, including bikers claiming to help police enforce the law, have undressed eight women wearing miniskirts and even two men wearing low-slung trousers, in Eastern Uganda, in the past week.

Protesting against the supposed 'mini-skirt ban' in Kampala, Uganda. Photograph: Amy Fallon for the Guardian

Elsewhere women describe the level of street harassment as intensifying. "Sexual harassment has been taking place in this country for some time," says Nargis Shirazi, 29, an activist who works for the Woman to Woman Foundation in Kampala. "Now it's like the locals have a reason to stand up and use violence. If we don't do anything about it, it's going to get worse."

The problem, according to Shirazi, is that the law is extremely vague. "The leaders themselves do not understand it," she says. "Lokodo claims that women excite men if they dress like this. The tabloids pounce and there you have your front page: 'Miniskirts banned'. It gives men reason to get violent."

The recently signed Anti-Pornography Act 2014, broadly defines pornography as "any representation of the sexual parts of a person for primarily sexual excitement". Simon Lokodo, Uganda's ethics and integrity minister and a former Catholic priest, has vowed that women wearing clothing that stopped above the knee would be arrested in a revival of Idi Amin's 1970s law, which was on the statute books until 2002. On Tuesday, the same day that President Yoweri Museveni signed a separate anti-gay bill into law, police warned the public against invoking the "anti-miniskirt bill" to strip women in public. Explaining that the law was not yet operational and is being reviewed against a set of procedures and guidelines before police can be instructed, the statement concludes: "The law does not criminalise mini dresses."

Protesting against the supposed 'mini-skirt ban' in Kampala, Uganda. Photograph: Amy Fallon for the Guardian

The confusion over the Anti-Pornography Act has been perpetuated by the focus on women's clothes, despite there being no actual mention of mini-skirts in the bill. "So many people on the streets are selling porn DVDs, but all that's constantly being mentioned is 'women, women, women'," says Sharon Atim, 25, an activist and a colleague of Shirazi's. "Actually, we are the vulnerable group."

So can women wear miniskirts in public? The Ugandan cabinet is currently reviewing the bill in response to public attacks on women. On Monday, after the ceremonial signing of the anti-gay bill, Lokodo made his feelings clear, saying: "Put on a miniskirt but please don't expose your thighs, your buttocks and your genitalia. Finished." But while women continue to suffer as a result of his bill, the problem is far from over.