Doug Simpson, AP, April 22, 2008
A state Senate panel rejected a bill on Tuesday that would make it a crime to wear one’s pants too low, even as Cajun-country towns around Louisiana have been banning saggy pants from their streets.
Sen. Derrick Shepherd’s bill would have made it illegal to wear, in public, clothing that “intentionally exposes undergarments or intentionally exposes any portion of the pubic hair, cleft of the buttocks or genitals.” Violators would have faced a fine of up to $175 and eight days of community service.
{snip}
Shepherd said the state should take a stand against droopy pants, which he called just one example of widespread indecency in contemporary clothing styles.
“The shorts are getting shorter, the tops are getting smaller, the cleavage is getting larger,” said Shepherd, also a Democrat. “When are we going to say, ‘Enough is enough’?”
With no objection, the Senate judiciary panel voted against moving the measure to the floor.
{snip}
About a dozen Louisiana towns and cities have enacted or are considering bans on saggy pants.
The style is believed to have started in prisons, where inmates are issued ill-fitting jumpsuits but no belts to prevent hangings and beatings. The look was popularized in gangster rap videos.
Original article
(Posted on April 23, 2008)
Comments
This is obviously a flawed attempt at social engineering. The IDEA is that if they are not allowed to DRESS like thugs they won’t ACT like thugs. It is a breathtakingly naive concept. Changing a persons clothes doesn’t change their mentality.
Posted by at 4:42 PM on April 23
I think these kinds of laws already exist, in terms of indecent exposure. So it will do nothing to stop what we know as “sagging.” Also, look for anti-sagging law to be enforced mainly among young whites, to cut off ACLU/NAACP whining.
Posted by Question Diversity at 6:21 PM on April 23
Let them wear clown pants for all I care, wearing their pants in such a fashion only lets everyone know what they are, gives warning to others to avoid them and keep a watchful eye out when they approach. It also slows the cretins down when they try something that requires them to use both hands since the first thing that happens is their pants fall down.
Posted by Cliff Yablonski at 7:18 PM on April 23
Another bunch of spineless legislators coveting the black vote. I personally find it offensive seeing someone with their pants down around their ass. Especially when they are holding their pants up with one hand while pulling their gentalia down the street with the other. But then, I guess these legislators like observing that sort of thing.
Posted by at 7:39 PM on April 23
Just use indecent exposure laws…problem solved.
Posted by NorthAmericanWhiteMan at 8:25 PM on April 23
The droopy pants look just make them look more stupid than they already are. If you did not have a bad opinion of a black before seeing them waddle along with their ass hanging out you surely will after. Can they possibly look more stupid and dare I say backward?
Posted by Chuck_W at 10:20 PM on April 23
“…where inmates are issued ill-fitting jumpsuits.”
Pray, how does a jumsuit allow for one’s pants to hang around their rear-end, when the very design of a jumpsuit would make this impossible? Try again…
Posted by HH at 10:52 PM on April 23
Banning the gangsta look will only go part way to banning the gangsta mind.
Posted by at 11:00 PM on April 23
This ridiculous practice would stop if the people they meet would point and laugh hysterically when they came in view. No teen likes to be the butt of a joke. And this has got to be the worst non-style yet.
Posted by June at 9:19 AM on April 24
Something about those droopy baggy pants, always makes them appear like overgrown toddlers, right down to the waddle in their walk. When you see adult males dressed that way, it is a sure sign they are in a state of suspended adolescence, that they will likely never to outgrow.
Posted by at 10:16 AM on April 24
….”The style is believed to have started in prisons”…..
It looks like the author is either uninformed or he’s walking the fine PC line. The style started in prisons.
Wearing too-large drawers low started in prisons by black inmates in order to advertise that they were available for sex for either money, favors or recreation. Having worked in corrections, this simple method has been known far and wide for years.
When drawing their weekly clothing allowance, some blacks would ask for pants 2 or 3 sizes larger. In my state, they were denied, but they made do with what was given them.
Wearing the oversized coats, shirts and jackets, by the way, is done so as to be able to hide weapons. As one black inmate told me; “you can hide a sawed-off ‘gauge’ (12 gauge shotgun) if you got a big enough coat”.
AIDS is rampant among blacks, and it isn’t just because of dirty needs for their drug use.
Posted by Proactive at 10:57 AM on April 24
It’s a kind of a cultural hippity-hop thing - bold young men following the irresistable urge to display their brains.
Posted by Gary at 12:43 PM on April 24
Slaves to fashion, victims of crime. Such is the black culture here in the U.S. of A.
Shame is the underside of this narcissism and it has been validated through research. Read Andrew Morrion’s book on that topic. It’s entitled, “Shame: The Underside of Narcissism.”
While not voiced, blacks unconsciously believe themselves to have prominent cognitive deficits, and their self-absorption as well as their “fashion statements” reflect just that.
Posted by Proactive at 12:47 PM on April 24
“This is obviously a flawed attempt at social engineering. The IDEA is that if they are not allowed to DRESS like thugs they won’t ACT like thugs. It is a breathtakingly naive concept. Changing a persons clothes doesn’t change their mentality.”
Posted by at 4:42 PM on April 23
Oh? Try wearing a red shirt in LA or any town of any size in California. That usually gets you beat up and sometimes killed. Clothing can be and is often a uniform of a movement.
But I am happy to see these fools with their crotches down to their knees because it makes running more difficult.
Posted by Whiteplight at 2:00 PM on April 24
When are they going to address droopy urban customs and sagging school standards? Even retards in the 20th century didn’t wear clown outfits as school clothing.
Posted by Lars at 6:23 PM on April 24
