Bill Takes Aim at Saggy Pants

I found a story about one Memphis middle school principle that has tackled the problem on his own.

This article published April 2, 2012:

Boys who wear their pants down too low at Westside Middle School in Memphis may get “Urkelized” if all else fails.

Yes, we’re talking about nerdy Steve Urkel from the 1990s sitcom “Family Matters,” who famously wore his pants hiked way up to his chest.

A number of states, including Tennessee, are considering laws to ban saggy pants and clothes on girls that reveal too much skin. Arkansas and Florida have already passed similar laws. But Principal Bobby White at Westside said the law isn’t necessary. His approach is to talk to the student and try to convince him to hike up his pants, and then escalate with a phone call to the student's parents.

"I don't think legislation of dress is constitutional," White said. "I don't believe it's what our forefathers would have wanted. I'm definitely not for legislating dress."

So if his person-to-person remedies fail, he's got another more direct approach. Zip ties are used to tighten the pant’s waistline.

I bolded a bit of text there because I think it is important. He does not think this should be legislation!!! He saw a problem and tried to solve it on his own.

And the school has been doing this for a while. Here is an interview with him on CNN from 2010:
(The video discusses why he came up with this and why he thinks it matters.)


OiO

The schools have been trying to fight this since I was in high school back in 1999. Even before that, in middle school, there were rules about clothes. For the girls they could were skirts if they were higher than the length of there arms. And no one could show there underwear or what not. This is nothing new really.

I will say though, in defense of us "skinny" people. Sometimes our pants just will not stay up. I have NO butt. At all. Belt or no, my pants will fall. I am 29 years old, and I still constantly get comments about keeping my pants up. Its hard! If I tighten my belt so they will stay up, I cut off circulation around my hips and I get marks from having my pants so tight. But if I loosen them up just one notch from that. No luck, my pants will fall.

So sometimes its not our fault Just saying.

reply to post by MoosKept240


Sounds like a perfect excuse to rock a set of trouser braces, bring them back in fashion!

My fellow libertarians better have no question
as to how they would vote on this bill.
Right Libertarians?

Originally posted by MoosKept240
The schools have been trying to fight this since I was in high school back in 1999. Even before that, in middle school, there were rules about clothes. For the girls they could were skirts if they were higher than the length of there arms. And no one could show there underwear or what not. This is nothing new really.

I will say though, in defense of us "skinny" people. Sometimes our pants just will not stay up. I have NO butt. At all. Belt or no, my pants will fall. I am 29 years old, and I still constantly get comments about keeping my pants up. Its hard! If I tighten my belt so they will stay up, I cut off circulation around my hips and I get marks from having my pants so tight. But if I loosen them up just one notch from that. No luck, my pants will fall.

So sometimes its not our fault Just saying.

That's why I wear my pants with a shoe-lace. With shoe-laces, you can control how tight or how lose they are. I'm the complete opposite of you. I have a fairly big bottom, so I have to get jeans that are too-loose around my hips just to get it up around my bum. With my shoe-lace "belt", I can control having my pants where they need to be without worrying of them falling.

Ha ha! So if my boxers show when i'm bending or leaning then I could get fined!?
Damn I wonder how much I'd get for showing some plumber.

As far as I am concerned, people should be able to dress how they want....whether myself or anyone else likes it or not. I certainly don't want anyone telling me I can't wear my "skinny jeans" (God FORBID!!)..... as long as it isn't obscene, it doesn't matter. However, there is a time and place for everything. If you are applying for a job....then obviously, you should dress according to the situation.
I don't mind the saggy pants look....as long as they around hanging down around their knees...it's HILARIOUS watching some of these guys walk and hold their pants up to their thighs at the same time....

In the words of "The General" Larry Platt



I LOVE this man! LOL!




:

Sorry about all the edits in my last post....just got back from the dentist...nuff said. zzzzzzzzzzz

Trend started in prison - inmates were not allowed to have belts or shoe strings because they were used as weapons or use them to commit suicide. Then in the early 90's rap artist came out in videos with the sagging pants imitating inmates in an attempt to achieve a "tough" image.

Originally posted by Biigs
reply to post by MoosKept240

 

Sounds like a perfect excuse to rock a set of trouser braces, bring them back in fashion!

edit on 4-4-2012 by Biigs because: (no reason given)

I have tried, and failed miserably.
For a short time I even tried to wear them under my shirt. But still not a good fashion statement for me.

Most fads usually don't last longer than 10 years, but this ridiculous fad is approaching 20 years! I don't know, but do young women really think this looks attractive? These guys look like clowns, they waddle like chickens down the street or look like toddlers with their diapers full.

The only thing good about this fad, is thugs will commit crimes with sagging pants. They're not the smartest tool in the tool box when they think they can out run the police and climb fences while they're trying to hold their pants up.

Originally posted by OneisOne

I bolded a bit of text there because I think it is important. He does not think this should be legislation!!! He saw a problem and tried to solve it on his own.

Imagine that. Someone showing personal responsibility and supporting true American values by providing leadership. Unheard of.

The only problem with dress code type things I ever had in school was my wallet chain. I mean a huge chain, the kind people put on monster dogs, secured to my belt loop with a climbing carabiner. Looking back on that, I can see why, I coulda busted open some heads with that thing

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
If the law is aimed at targeting indecent exposure of body parts arent there already indecent exposure laws?

Why the redundancy?

Because this law clearly has nothing to do with indecent exposure of "body parts". They are simply saying people can't wear their pants low, regardless of what they have underneath, because some people apparently think it's indecent. It's like saying "not only can you not be nude, you must be wearing several layers of clothes in the way they are intended to be worn". It's absolutely absurd, the retards making these laws are clearly not sane.

Can we outlaw cowboy hats too while we're at it? They're a gun slingin' bunch, cowboys. I know from TV.

We should be throwing these people out of office like yesterday. Priorities must be from another planet.

In prison saggy pants also connotes the inmate is open to anal sex.

Originally posted by BABYBULL24
In prison saggy pants also connotes the inmate is open to anal sex.

Ummmm, no.

I mean, I think it is ridiculous and would LOVE to believe that myth to be true. But, for the sake of the purity of truth, I must admit that it is a myth.

While sagging did gain its start in the U.S. prison system, it was not a clothes-wearing style authored by imprisoned homosexuals intent upon advertising their interest in casual flings. Sagging pants became the behind-the-bars thing thanks to ill-fitting prison-issue garb: some of those incarcerated were provided with clothing a few sizes too large. That oversizing, coupled with the lack of belts in the big house, led to a great number of jailbirds whose pants were falling off their arses. (Belts are not permitted in most correctional facilities because all too often the lifeless bodies of their inmate owners have been found hanging from them.)

That is the only reason.

Am I the only one that finds this ironic? The same generation that rebelled against school mandated haircuts and skirt lengths is now imposing the same rules from th legislature.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

Originally posted by ButterCookie
I actually like this law, and wondered when they'd get it going.

sagging pants down past your waisteline is actually indecent exposure...women can't do it.

Why can men?

Women can't do it? Notice any trends at the beach about who can show more?

Should cleavage be indecent exposure? When's the last time you saw a male with his mid drift showing.

Women are allowed to show off their body and it's accepted. Sagging pants isn't the problem, the problem is people that dislike those that are poorer, blacker, and younger.

A young white guy with his pants low would hardly be as much of a problem as if it was a black guy.