For years I’ve debated the issue of people wearing sagging pants with anyone who cared to listen. I’ve hesitated to speak publicly for fear people would think I was condoning the style of dress. For the record, I believe style is a matter of personal expression.
Consider it this way: Some Americans grow up in neighborhoods where they are exposed to people who wear sagging pants almost every day. They see it inside of their homes, around their communities, in magazines, on the Internet and on TV. As a result, some would argue, it’s a part of their culture.
Fashion and trends come and go, some of which reflect the social consciousness of those who participate in them. As such, young people should be allowed to express themselves and their culture with their style of dress. The mere fact that it is offensive to others does not negate their constitutional rights. The only intervention necessary should come from parents, who instill morals and values in their children, and the government, when the child is in a public school setting. Beyond that, style should be a matter of personal choice and not subjugated to the taste and preferences of others.
What is the real issue with sagging? Is it the fact that underwear or shorts are exposed, or is it something else? I would argue for the latter of the two.
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this is a very interesting topic I have heard of every single theory thrown out there about sagging pants known to man. on the other hand I have to agree to disagree with the whole sagging pants being apart of African American culture, I would say in my opinion it is something that may have developed from either being in a gang or in the prison system signaling homosexual inmates to other inmate who were open to the idea of such conditions said to go with sagging just think about it, if I can have my rear end exposed its sort of like an open invitation if you want the world to see what isn’t considered decent exposure. Sagging is a very controversial topic and I feel if you want someone to take you serious you should not sag it does kind of take away from another person taking you serious if that is where respect comes in to play. at the end of the day I am bias to the whole situation and everyone has their own mind and opinions and the right to were their pants however they want to if it signifies who they are as long as they are not hurting anyone, I do not see what all the hype on the issue is if it is something that they grew up around or learned to do fro with their household or communities. overall, great blog post I enjoyed reading this very much.
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As a teacher in a Title 1 school I see a lot of sagging. It is not allowed by our dress code. When I speak to young men about sagging, I try to explain that it is a matter of time and place. In professional and educational settings it is not appropriate for underwear to show. In familial and friendly settings I let them know that it is just fine for them to express their sense of fashion. With young men of color I feel that it is important for them to learn what is appropriate and when. Also, I teach in a predominately hispanic school, so I just want to point out that sagging is not just an African American phenomenon.
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I agree that is not unique to blacks, which is why I mentioned my white friend. Nevertheless, it’s just my opinion that the policies being developed target black males. It become fairly evident when you look at the signs and billboards being created as well as where they are placed.
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This is a very controversial topic that is looked at and has been hardly debated over the last couple years around the country. Different states and counties around the country have made laws that you cannot wear your pants below your waist to fix the problem of sagging pants. The ones that wear their pants sagging below their waist most likely grew up around others that wore sagging pants below their waist. Years ago it was a trend and since then has started to go out of style and you do not see as many people with their pants sagging below their waist.
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I was very intrigued by this article, as I believe you stated some very positive, true points. As mentioned in the article, there is a time and place for self expression. A professional work environment should encourage people to dress professionally, but when outside of this environment people have constitutional rights to express themselves how they please. It is very sad that one persons form of expression and even culture (as you stated) is threatened and discriminated on. I know growing up in my home my parents were always extremely discouraging of wearing any form of pants that were sagging or even too tight. It would take me weeks to find the “proper” pair of jeans due to my parents opinions of “professional”. Now this was their place because they are my parents, but it often seems parents become more concerned with their children’s outer appearance rather than what’s inside their heart. I think this is the true issue; why are people judging from perception and not actual conversation. Different people have different cultures and grow up believing the things they do based on what they are taught. I value and respect your points as this has become a growing problem, more than just sagging pants.
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I agree that this topic is controversial and I don’t particularly like to see it. I do believe that it is a trend that cross all cultures and is not just in the Black culture. I see a lot of the young men doing it, including my own son. The problem I have is, when are you too old to be sagging your pants? My son is 27 and he is still doing it and it irks my nerves. I do believe that in some places it shouldn’t be appropriate such as in school, church and in the workplace no matter what age. I can say that my son does respect those places and doesn’t do it then.
However, is it that serious that there should be laws on the book about it? I think not. What a waste of time and money. I do believe in the freedom of speech and that’s what our country is built on. If we start telling people how to wear their clothes, then what’s next? For example, I heard they are trying to pass a law that states a person can’t smoke in their vehicle if a minor child is in the car. What?! I am not a smoker and can’t stand the smell of smoke, but who are you to tell me what I can do inside my car that I pay/paid for? Can you say Big Brother is lurking?
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You bring up an interesting point about smoking in a privately owned vehicle. I guess next, they will say your can’t smoke in your home. SMH
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For me race or gender is not what bothers me about this. It is simply the exposure of underwear. I understand that this is what some people grow up with but this is not what you have to continue to live with. If you are a female with your underwear purposely exposed that to me is just gross. That is not fashion. You are simply trying to get attention. A male with his pants sagging, in my opinion, is just as disgusting. I just do not understand why this is a “fashion statement” or an expression of oneself. What is it that you are trying to convey? I do not care what race or gender someone is, I do not want to see your underwear while I am out in public, especially if I am with a child and they are getting an eye full. That being said, I know there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop anyone from dressing like this. This is America after all!
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Thanks for your comment and I appreciate your sentiment. I would really like to know what you think about bathing suits and tank tops worn under shirts. I only ask because to me, that is more revealing and because I know that sometimes what we believe are underwear are actually shorts.
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I definitely agree with your blog. It is the latter. I wrote a paper in a class study of contemporary social issues about this form of institutionalized discrimination. The perception that institutions tend to view society with correlate directly with their cultural conditioning. I think the future generations will not view this in the same respect, and seriousness at it has by the former. This tends to be a subject that really bothers the status quo.
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This is very thought provoking for me because I have never seen sagging pants as being apart of one’s culture until now. After reading your post, I understand where you are coming from with explaining that it is something that many people are highly exposed to, causing it to be apart of their culture. I still don’t understand the functionality of it, but there are many fashion trends that are not logical and functional. The fact that society highlights sagging pants as an offensive fashion statement may be due to deeper issues, including racism and stereotyping.
I do think that in a public school or work setting it is not appropriate, but neither is a crop top or short skirts. In our society someone wearing sagging pants is going to be classified as less professional than someone wearing a skirt that they believe is too short. That is where I feel there is a sense of injustice that is going to take more time to get rid of in America.
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I also think the offense is related to the prison message it is reported to send.
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You need to get out more often. I live in Asia. Many here wear their pants sagging almost to their knees. I cannot begin to tell you the number times that members within their own culture have expressed dissatisfaction with the style. Simply put, they see it as being sloppy and lazy. Why? Because even the poorest of the poor, will iron their clothes before going out in public and then spend an inordinate amount of time grooming in front of a mirror. There is not a day that goes by that I do watch people of every age stopping beside my neighbor’s car to catch a glimpse of their reflection and check their appearance before reaching the end of the street and immersing themselves into the throng of people.
By your logic, the comments regarding sagging pants here must be something else. Sorry, it has nothing to do with race. Even the foreigners living here do not play the race card as they weigh in with comments.
As a kid who grew up in the 60’s, argued with my parents about the length of my hair, managed a rock band, smoked pot and participated in sit-ins opposing everything I did not agree with…it had nothing to do with race and everything to do with rebellion. And now you know.
PS. For those offended by the prison analogy I would ask, “Have you ever been in prison? Not jail, but a prison. Until you have, then how could you know? As a pastor I have spent many hours inside the prison population working with inmates.
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Thanks for your comment. Although I grew up pretty sheltered, I have traveled to many places, including Asia. The intent of my piece was to focus on the establishment of public policies against sagging. IMO…these policies target young black men. The history of blacks in the U.S. is littered with poor treatment and discrimination against blacks in many of our institutions and within many of our public policies. The intent here is bring awareness to the fact that without public scrutiny of policies such as these our freedoms will be increasingly become more restricted. I agree with you statement about rebellion as these young people struggle for their own identities in the midst of a society that regards them as second class citizens.
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Great view on this topic.
I believe that a person should not be judged on the way they dress. Sometimes the humblest of people can be wearing what we don’t expect and driving a Mercedes. People should do what they want to do, we don’t know their story. When it bothers some of my friends, I tend to tell them that we should worry about ourselves, we do not know their situation and why they dress/act like that. These trends are now and who knows? In the future, it can be a whole lot different but change is always happening. Just like how people of my religion are discriminated for wearing a headscarf which represents modesty. I really do not see the difference with nuns. My mother was actually scared after 9/11 because she did not want to be stared at but I told her, this is your life — not theirs. People who judge tend to not distinguish culture and can be narrow-minded. So, the situation is pretty similar. People will always be out to judge and evaluate but in the end, we should do what we want to do.
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I enjoy reading this post. I agree that I saw mostly black men wearing the pants and showing their underwear. I believe that they tend to follow on what the society imposes to do. It also the depends on the culture and values that they were raised. We live in a free society where everyone can choose on what to wear, so people should not judge on that matter. In the United States, there are a lot of different cultures and values, so people tend to follow on what they believe. The society imposes the trends, and what is acceptable to wear. Even though the United States is a free country, the discrimination is still part of this society.
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I thought this post was very interesting and some of the responses to it were even more interesting. I also agree with you, I believe that style is a form of personal expression! I don’t see the problem with sagging but I know others do. It’s sad but I’ve heard people judge young men who sag, referring to them as “thugs” and judging them based off sagging pants. I know this wasn’t the point of your post but I find it annoying that people judge (especially) young black men because their pants are sagging. I think sagging pants is part of their culture and just like one of the comments above me said “The fact that society highlights sagging pants as an offensive fashion statement may be due to deeper issues, including racism and stereotyping”.
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I think that the youth are highly influenced by society. I feel at the same time that sagging pants it is a way of the youth to express themselves. They are in the stage of being able to discover who they are. Their identity is a confusion to them that it is easily to be influenced by others. Sagging pants in my community can be seen as youth who are involved in gags but it is not necessary true for all. I feel that it should be respected on those who wear sagging pants and not be judged.
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Love this post, I hated that I was not able to express myself growing up, I wanted funky hair colors and make up.Now that I am older I cannot express those things because it would be inappropriate, plus I am over that stage in my life haha.
But I do believe that it is an person expression. Just like “don’t judge a book by its cover” Just because I had funky colors did not mean that I was not a responsible person. Because I was not able to express myself growing up, I make sure my kids are able too. The whole sagging, top tell you the truth, I doesn’t bother be one bit. My kids had friends how do it all the time, And come to my house very respectful, and is very responsible.
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Growing up saggy pants has always been around me. My cousins would sag because they did not like their pants to be tight. It seemed to go away in middle school but high school came around and most of the boys were doing it because they saw it as cool. I do not see an issue with it; it is the person’s choice. I think many see the issue with a negative connotation. Many say that sagging came from the prisons as an invitation. If you ask those who sag, they do not even know the origin of sagging. The males who do it just see it as comfortable for them. One thing that was tough was in high school when boys got caught sagging they were told to just pull up their pants but when girls were wearing something too short or too revealing, they were sent to the office to either call their parents to get a pair of clothes or would have to go home. It is sad that it feels like a one-way street. People should be able to wear what they want. It feels like society is trying to control what is acceptable and those who do not do it are judged and seen down on. The way people decide to present themselves does not determine their morals or values.
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I would agree to previous statements regarding sagging pants. Most youths are influenced to sagging because it makes them feel cool and feel welcomed in their community. I grew up in a city where guys commonly used to sagging. Celebrities such as Justin Bieber and 50 cents sag all the time. Teenagers see it as a good thing and follow the trend. There are several places like school or attending a banquet where boys cannot be sagging (formal occasions). Somehow they can get away with it. They will be sagging because the pants is below the waist level and they have their shirts tucked in. When I was in high school, if teen boys were sagging, they were told to pull up their pants and they would escort them to the office. The staff will lend them a belt but the boys would not wear it. Nowadays, males would not want to wear a belt because it makes them feel weak. There are times when they wear a belt, but they’ll still sag. I never had a problem with people sagging because it is a form of expressing who they are. We live in a society where people dress however they want. There is no law regarding how a person should be dressed. I would never sag because I was not raised to dress revealing and it is not who I am. Sagging is a choice for youths. If they want to sag, they can sag. it is a symbol of freedom and cultural awareness.
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I agree with you that youth must be afforded their styles. After all, textiles are just textiles, and there are a million different ways of arranging them.
For me, I have no moral evaluation of sagging. If it floats someone’s boat, go for it. But aesthetically, for me, it’s bad style. Class has nothing to do with it. I just like colorful and striking style and can’t wait until that comes back in vogue.
But every generation must be allowed its signature, and inevitably, the older generations have fits about how civilization is going to end if these things keep on going. They said that in the 20s and they keep saying it, each generation forgetting how radical their style was to their folks.
Since I like snazzy and dandy, saggy is never going to do it for me, but different strokes for different folks.
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The African-American male is the most copied person in the world. As a Nigerian, I see the proliferation of Hip Hop dress code everywhere, to the annoyance of the community. There is a reason Jay-Z no longer appears like he used to, I looked for reasons why showing your underpants to the public is a desirable way to showcase who you are and if that is the main export, then I’m sorry for us. We say, if you want to be taken seriously, pull your damn trousers up.
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