Banning the Baggy Pants

Florida Baggy Pants Ban
From a blogger

Read the blog, it shows more perspective.

A statewide school dress code is gaining some support in Florida. It would ban anyone’s pants from bagging below their waste (waist). If it passes, a first time offender would get three-day suspension.

Many cities have fought over whether the "gangsta" style of wearing pants should be banned. Now it's on a state level, in the state of Florida.

For the past three years, State Sen. Gary Siplin's proposal to ban the wearing of saggy pants has been a joke around the Capitol, in headlines and among students.

Everyone here knows what is being said because it is all around you in the lower socio-economic status societies. The style of wearing your pants so low that your buttocks and genitals will be revealed is very prevalent among the African-American culture and gangs.

The rule would make it illegal for students to show underwear when wearing pants below the waist. As a joke earlier this year, students sent Siplin photos of themselves smiling and posing with their underwear peeking from the waistbands of low-slung jeans.

The sagging-pants style originated in jails, where prisoners were not allowed to wear belts for security reasons. Although Siplin says saggy pants signal a prisoner looking for a date, there is little evidence of that.

Some people thinks that it is a disgrace while others think that it's a cool style.

Critics of the bill say schools should be the ones to make dress code. The American Civil Liberties Union has argued against making it criminal for anyone to wear baggy pants, especially because it singles out a trend originating from """""a particular race's""""" youth """""culture""""".

Apparently, the proposal is on the verge of becoming a law. And there are many, many oppositions to it.

I am pretty sure that if the law does get passed, then Florida will see a revolution in public schools.

Personally, I am not black and I was never integrated into their culture in anyway. However, I do understand that this fashion is part of their culture, it IS the norm.

Bann or not ban... Hmm. If the politicians can find a study that shows baggy pants is hindering one's education then sure, why not. Otherwise, DON'T BAN THE BAGGY PANTS, it'll be another Jena 6 revolt.

Anyways, why are the politicians fighting over this minor issue when the economy is toppling? Here in Florida, the income from property taxes decreased from 1.9 Billion a year to 89 MILLION a year?


[edit on 3/12/2008 by die_another_day]

WTF ?????????????????

i will state from the get go - that i think the people that wear them are fooing retards and look stupid beyond belief

but legislating fashion is even stupider

IF and big if certain individuals are wandering around with thier genitals hanging out - what is wrong with using the current laws to procecute them for lewd conduct ??

i make the assumption that florida already has a statute agaist public indecency

to answer your question - why is the idiot pushing this law - IMHO its the standard politician attempt to be seen to be doing " something "

I agree, just a ploy by the local politician to look good.

I laugh my a@@ off at some of the guys wearing the baggy-gansta pants, but I know it is just a fad and they will look back on it (as I did with my bad apparel choices) and think " What was I thinking".

I keep telling my son we want as many pictures of him as possible wearing these pants, so we can all look back on it some day and laugh at him... not with him

HARD TO UNDERSTAND:

One thing that has always puzzled me is this: If this is the typical Gangsta apparel, or originated from... How could they possibly run from the LAW in these pants????

My son and his friends can't walk up a flight of stairs without pullin their pants at least twice. I couldn't imagine trying to outrun someone while wearing these.

Originally posted by die_another_day
The style of wearing your pants so low that your buttocks and genitals will be revealed is very prevalent among the African-American culture and gangs.

the crazy thing is, its not like they actually show their "buttocks and genitals." They show their boxers. So what if you only wear boxers, or shorts that look like boxers?

What if you wear super-skinny jeans under your baggy jeans? And what about people that wear pants so tight, you can see their junk too? I mean, once this game starts, when and where does it stop?

Funny thing is I think that "fashion" trend was about dead. Now by making a law and piping this through the media they will strengthen the trend.

Get ready for droves of evil baggy pant sporting kids near you.

I'm in high school and I've seen it, the baggy pants trend is getting less and less popular. also people aren't putting up with the wanna be gangsters of suburbia as much anymore.

While were at it let's go ahead and ban visible bras. Seeing bras and bra straps is not pretty.

And thongs. Thongs worn with low slung jeans. Yucky. It sure is disgusting to me to see a female with her bra straps showing and her thong waist showing above her low waisted jeans.

And blue hair on old women. What a laugh. How can they think that's pretty.

Oh and let's ban flip flops. Have you ever seen such ugly toes these days.

Finally the zoot suit. Yes the attire that salesmen and detectives adorn themselves in. How ignorant is it to wear a tie someone could choke you to death with, a coat that is surely very warm in the summer.

No I don't like to see boys wearing saggy pants. This is a problem parents need to deal with. Courts keep your mitts out of our closets. It is only a fashion statement. This too shall pass.

Florida, don't you have some hungry and homeless people that need care?
And how about that crime rate? Stay out of the boys pants you nasty old politicians.

Dizzie

Walking around with your pants so low everyone knows what color your underwear are and you have trouble walking without losing them is by far the most ridiculous fashion trend I have ever seen. That being said, we don't really need fashion police. I'm sure the police have more important things they could do besides ticketing people with their underwear hanging out. I'm all for school dress codes that ban it, but it's not something that should be legislated. The government has more important things they could be working on than preventing people from looking ridiculous.

reply to post by dizziedame


Dizzie, you got my vote for all of the above.
I have a son who wears his jeans this way and he knows I can't stand it. But I agree that the trend seems to be moving away from it. Fads come and go, but if one ban is allowed it will open the doors for more to the point where it gets ridiculous.
What about the girls who wear the short skirts that don't even fully cover everything and when they bend over.."WOOHOO"! Nothing to the imagination.
Have some decency ..my god.
Personally I don't mind seeing a guys boxers showing..at least he's wearing some.

I say "LET THEM WEAR BAGGY PANTS".

Then they can't run as fast from the cops :-)

Visible bras and thongs though? Thumbs-down on that one hahaha

Banning anything is idiotic. From guns to drugs to baggy pants.

I can't believe this "style" has survived as long as it has. It was this way when I was in high school some 15 years ago. Why would a "thug" want pants like that anyway? You're not running from the cops with your pants down by your ankles and your shoes untied. You can't fight like that either.

I don't get what the point it? Besides looking like some unemployed drop-out living on my tax dollar what's the appeal?

Does looking like a jackass attract women? I should edit to read: quality women. Not 3 dozen ghetto ho's all with names ending in "ita" and "ecia" that rhyme with popular prescription medication. Abreeva, Propecia, Avandia, etc... whose great ambitions are to move up the list for section 8 housing and get spinning rims on their 86 BMW with bubbled up tints you put in yourself and duct tape holding the front passengers door on.

reply to post by die_another_day


Being a parent, I am guilty of buying my kids pants sometimes with a little bit of room for them to grow into.

My only thought about supper baggy pants, that can't possibly stay up, is that I hope the people who wear them don't expect to grow into them.

Now, that would be nasty!

LET THE KIDS WEAR WHAT THEY WANT!!!

I mean come on their just pants they don't harm anybody.

I had a dress code all through school and I never got to express myself through my clothing. But now that I don't have a dress code I have a 16 inch high green mohawk, a bullet belt, and patches and spikes all over my clothes.

If kids can't express themselves they end up just going to one extreme when they finally don't have a dress code anymore.

First it was dangling chads.

Then it was losing delegates.

Now it's baggy pants. Well, at least we got something besides political turmoil.

I'm seeing a lot of mention about political maneuvering. But there's a scarier possibility. Suppose, just suppose, Sen. Siplin is serious. Let me explain:

We have designated schools as 'gun-free zones'. Yet shootings continue. The new rage seems to be to also ban pictures of guns, things that look like guns, talk about guns, even ink pens with a 'G' on them. And shootings continue.

Now, in the same vein, we want to decrease gang violence in schools. So we outlaw looking like gangsters, thinking like gangsters, talking like gangsters... and the violence will continue. This appears to me to be what Idiot, I mean Senator Siplin is after.

Wearing baggy pants means that you have no fashion sense (and remember guys, this is a redneck talking ). It does not mean you are in a gang. It means you have too much fabric around your butt. It does not mean you are a potential troublemaker.

At some point, the people will wake up and realize they are electing idiots. I just hope it's before they cross that line of no return.

TheRedneck

Originally posted by theendisnear69
LET THE KIDS WEAR WHAT THEY WANT!!!

I mean come on their just pants they don't harm anybody.

I don't agree with your thoughts.

My kids did not have a dress code while they were in school, but the thought was tossed about.

My kids attended the best public schools in Arizona. They would come home and tell me all kinds of horror stories about other kids getting their new pair of shoes, or a peice of clothing ripped off by other kids while waiting for the school bus. That would be jackets, and yes, even one time a pair of pants.

Kids can worry about what to wear at the end of the school day if they all have to wear the same thing, who wants to steal anything?

To wear uniforms also has a benefit, because there are no outwordly apparent ways to tell a difference in the class of a student. If one child who is poor wears a uniform and a wealthy child does the same, then they are on the same level.

I also tend to think, that big baggy pants are a way to hide things. Unfortunately, a gun or something esle can be more easily hidden in a baggy pair of pants, then some that actually fit.

If all those kids want to advertise they are gay I don't think there's anything you can do about it. And yes it started in the prisons to let people know you are avialable.

mikell

I'm straight gangster out of the hood in South Florida. I wear baggy pants all the time. Let a cop try to arrest me for that I knock him the F out.

reply to post by Brain2100cc

I'm no cop. Not gonna try to arrest you. But that threat cuts both ways.

A word of advice/warning, however. If that post is true, you're the problem. There's always someone bigger than you, always someone that'll break a few bones when you try to 'knock them the F out'.

I suggest you become part of the solution. It's easier that way.

TheRedneck

Oh, and don't bother spewing back at me... not worth my time to read it. I've already spent more time on this subtopic than it deserves.

Well, the wanna be a gangsta look is a help to cops when they run down the little perps. The gangsta may think it's cool till they try to run from the man and find there attire trips em up and they get caught. I love to watch the cops nab the gangsta with baggies down around there ankles. Who needs hand cuffs when the clothing works just as well. Did ya ever notice though, the gangsta is gettin baluga sized fat and have no choice but to wear bustem high baggies.

I'm noticing far too much that there is an association between baggy pants and breaking the law. Why are so many quick to make that assumption?
To express yourself by dressing a certain way, does not always mean the person has the personality that has been stereotyped to go with it.
My son dresses "Gangsta" listens to 50 cent and on occasion wears a bandanna of his own choice color..white. Doesn't mean he breaks the law. He's not in a gang. Doesn't even carry a pocket knife let alone a gun. To me this is just another tactic to get the young people to conform to the society that is being created for all of us.
Does a kid who looks gangsta always make for a bad kid, or a dangerous one?
Jocks, preps, and rich kids break the law too. Just because the gangsta look represents the inner city culture it gets the bad wrap.
I think this is seriously ridiculous. When I was young it was the punkers that got the same treatment. An old argument made new again. NEVER EVER judge a book by it's cover.
There are people who dress, Gangsta, punk, goth, biker who are the nicest people you could ever meet.
Unreal that as a society we judge others by how they dress.