I have to admit that I never understood this ‘fashion’ statement. Why would you deliberately dress so that others would think you are a low class idiot who hasn’t got the brain power to keep his pants up? But go to jail for it? Get real! Too much government control over personal lives for me.

On the other hand, the article indicates rather than being racist laws against blacks and Latinos who primarily wear this, it’s black legislators pushing it. Must be embarrassed by what their people are doing.

But hip-hop is dying, so they say, so maybe this fad will fade away, too.

Are your jeans sagging? Go directly to jail

JAMARCUS MARSHALL, a 17-year-old high school sophomore in Mansfield, Louisiana, believes that no one should be able to tell him how low to wear his jeans. “It’s up to the person who’s wearing the pants,” he said.

Marshall’s sagging pants, a style popularized in the early 1990s by hip-hop artists, are becoming a criminal offense in a growing number of communities, including his own.

Starting in Louisiana, an intensifying push by lawmakers has determined pants worn low enough to expose underwear poses a threat to the public, and they have enacted indecency ordinances to stop it.

Behind the indecency laws may be the real issue — the hip-hop style itself, which critics say is worn as a badge of delinquency, with its distinctive walk conveying thuggish swagger and a disrespect for authority. Also at work is the larger issue of freedom of expression and the questions raised when fashion moves from being merely objectionable to illegal.



  1. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #29 – See… I learned not to ask a long time ago… 🙂

    And this has nothing to to do with hip hop culture. This is about suburban white kids emulating hip hop culture.

    I miss the old days of Goths and punks (I’m talking about a time when Goth was home made out of things found at thrift stores and garage sales, prior to Hot Topic and other trendy mall shops).

    Is there a youth movement left that isn’t manufactured in a board room by Harvard MBAs? I hate being so cynical.

  2. nightstar says:

    #30 IGlobalWarmer, your a broken record of hatred.

    #26 – hip hop style and gangbanger style is almost always a sign that society would be better off without that person as they are very likely to not only be indescribably stupid but also actively dangerous.

    Then from the Rap thread:

    “Then you’ve got the whole hip hop, gang banging culture. Personally I think society would be much better off if it became legal to shoot anyone who looks like a gangbanger on site. (Except on Halloween, of course).

    Look at the latest product of hip hop: “don’t snitch”. Why would any civilized person want anything at all to do with a culture of savages? ”

    http://tinyurl.com/36ju7l

    Savages eh… You sir are the epitome of savage

  3. NappyHeadedHo says:

    Certainly no worse than plumber’s butt crack! I’d think the cops would encourage this because it is a bitch to run with pants around your knees.

  4. Lauren the Ghoti says:

    #30 – iGW

    Amen. The “style” is actually a good thing, makes it far simpler to detect and steer clear of ’em.

    The one thing more lame and pathetic than white boys dressing like that is white boys making excuses for that whole scene…

    That shit’s bad enough to make a body remember Vanilla Ice with fond nostalgia…! 😉

  5. Floyd says:

    #34: Hip hoppera with saggy pants and underwear, and plumbers with butt cracks are both behaving as if they really _don’t_ want to reproduce. At least they’re pruning themselves out of the gene pool…

  6. natefrog says:

    Cops actually like this style… Suspects have trouble fleeing while holding up their pants!

  7. melgee - 16 says:

    i dont see a reason to put them in jail cuz of their look. THAT is stupid. of course, seeing what underwear they’re wearing just by glancing in their direction is just as bad (to me) as glancing sideways and seeing a 100yr old lady with no shirt or bra on. i mean, i just dont wanna see that. or be surprised with it popping out of nowhere. but i cant do anything about that but make fun of ’em while they walk by. hey, they make fun of goths like me and everyone else, so why not? i just wish the rappers would stop rappin ’bout the same things all the time, with the same beats. “i grew up in the ghetto” “look at that thang” “shake that for me” blah blah blah. all the same. gets annoying too when you’re walkin down the street and some car drives by and that’s all you hear ’til it’s gone for least 30sec. hopin they crash one of these days with that music too loud. (weird…it’s mostly teens =/ ) but…gettin back on topic, i just think it’s a “we dont wanna see that” issue. just like too short skirts or runnin around naked. but whatever… jail still isnt the answer. (i know i sound like a hyprocrite)

  8. TIHZ_HO says:

    I wonder if 20-30 years from now all these guys with the pants will look back on old photos and cringe the same way as many do at the poly leisure suits (with wing collars), platforms and don’t forget the permed afro. I say let them look like the idiots we all looked like! LOL!

    I wonder what John C Dvorak looked like in a leisure suit, platforms…and dare I say a perm? PhotoShop anyone? 😀

    Cheers

    PS Now I’ll be blocked…

  9. JMB says:

    I honestly don’t see anyone going to jail for this, jails are way too crowded as it is.

    And what is the big deal anyway, stupid people looking stupid.
    As far as I am concerned stupid people trying to look smart is a much more dangerous crime. You could call it “impersonating an intelligent person”, and the penalty could be an on the spot vasectomy.

  10. TIHZ_HO says:

    #40 I think the idea here is these pants are prone to falling down…and as the underwear is likely to follow…. can’t have all these ‘things’ flapping about in the breeze now can we… 😉

    I do recall many years ago girls getting into trouble for wearing thin shirts, no bra…little pointy things…So…?

    The more I think about it, most of the girls who did go braless back then were the ones you wish didn’t!

    Cheers

  11. Dauragon88 says:

    God this is silly. Young people wear crap that older people don’t like. For the love of god, It’s an endless cycle. Why does no one realize this?

  12. TIHZ_HO says:

    #42 See #41

    Let me try to explain this better.

    If you wear pants with the waist band around the crotch level (or below) they tend to do what…fall down.

    That’s not so bad if you are wearing Y fronts with the tight elastic waist ’cause Mr Winky is still safely tucked away.

    But…

    Y fronts aren’t the fashion, boxer shorts are, and they are well…baggy and not very secure AND when the pants go south the ‘ol boxers tend to follow and its “Oh, Hello there its Mr Winky the wiener guy”

    If there is still some confusion about the geometry and physics involved perhaps diagrams might help? 😉

    Cheers

  13. Ascii King says:

    A better question than the nonsense being posted here is, would it be illegal to walk down the street wearing only your boxers? I don’t think so, but showing off part of them is.

    As to why they are wearing their clothes like this, because of the prison gangsta style or to show off their peckers, that’s all just stupid. They wear it because everyone is wearing it. When they get older, we will pull out the old pictures and make fun of them for years to come.

  14. Trev says:

    In the late 1970’s, I know I looked stupd in my 3″ platform shoes, and I’m ashamed of my prom picture with the ridiculous 70’s outfit I was wearing. There are millions of us like that, too.

    I don’t like the sagger style, but banning it is pointless. My teenager wears it and it makes him look stupid and disrespectful in my opinion. But he’ll just have to learn like I did.

    I think we should lighten up and deal with the serious issues.

  15. TIHZ_HO says:

    #44 “…would it be illegal to walk down the street wearing only your boxers? I don’t think so, but showing off part of them is.”

    What is so hard to understand? Its not about the boxers showing or part of them showing its all about the exposing the Weiner which must happen regularly enough.

    Cheers

  16. Robert says:

    First of all the people who are all for the law need to understand that kids arent hangen out there weiners the pants arent low enough and boxers arent going to fall down if you have the comen sence to remember there is a band inside that pulls and keeps the boxers up and some people cant buy a belt with the little money they might have and its a style that sometimes goes too far i admit but why put a person in jail for useing the freedome that america has faught for in the first place. and as for people who think that wearing pants low makes you a thug get some brains its a style nothing more.

  17. zakk says:

    man saggin pants are just a dang style ok theres nothing bad about but ya not everyone wants to see ur boxers but then dont look mind ur bussiness

  18. dcubean says:

    Remember that real gangsters like “John Gotti” and “Sammy The Bull” dressed in $1,ooo dollar suits, not saggy pants.The preist who molested all those children, and most other pedifiles wear robes, and so called regular clothes (pants pulled up),I think it’s not about who looks stupid; but, who is truly a danger to society. Skinheads wear suspenders and boots, should we outlaw “Dock Martins”, these same boots have been used to kick peoples skulls in!Saggy pants are not being used as weapons to kill,no serial killer that I’ve ever heard of was caught wearing saggy pants(at least not any of the white ones!) Not even the infamous most hated O.J. wears his pants pulled up. All you black boot licking sale outs need to quit trying to please peaple who are never going to except you (Martin Luther King was arrested and beaten and he never had on saggy pants) and start standing up for our young people!

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  20. Will says:

    What is it when women show their clevage wear lip gloss and wear tight clothing? Thats called an open invitatin to rape them. If it should be against the law for men to sag their pants and show their underwear then it should be against the law for women to look like a SLUT!!! besides.. you do not hear of men getting rape. Its the stupid bitches!!! so get off the sagging pants issue. If you don’t like to see it then turn your head and look elsewhere!!! You people spend too much time focusing on dumb shit!!

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