April 24, 2004
Let's ban ass pants!
A small sign that one member of our mass culture, down in Louisiana, possesses a shred of common sense and decency:
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - People who wear low-slung pants that expose skin or "intimate clothing" would face a fine of up to $500 and possible jail time under a bill filed by a Jefferson Parish lawmaker.State Rep. Derrick Shepherd said he filed the bill because he was tired of catching glimpses of boxer shorts and G-strings over the lowered belt lines of young adults.
Of course if you read the article a little ways down, you will learn from the usual source (ACLU) all the legal reasons that the greater society must be forced to continue to view teen underwear.
For years, young men have flaunted this style, said to come out of prison, where belts are confiscated. It's an obvious attempt to disrespect basic social notions of how to appear in public. When I was a young teen, just wearing jeans ("dungarees" as my uncle called them) to school was close to shocking.
Today's more nihilistic bunch is running out of ideas, and thus pushing the fashion envelop past informality, past indecency, and into the realm of the surreal, wearing pants that require being pulled up, but not too much, so that the wearer can walk (barely) and offend at the same time.
Some time ago, when I belonged to Baltimore's expensive Downtown Athletic Club, a guy on the basketball court wore his shorts below crack level so as to expose his boxers. Bad enough that such a coarse fashion statement assault our eyes on the streets, but in a health club? I complained to the front desk. "The only man whose underwear I have the slightly interest in seeing is that of my husband, if that," I said. The DAC staff made murmurs of understanding, but I doubt they did much about it.
More power to Rep. Shepherd. It's about time somebody stood up and declared to the watching world,
"We DON'T want to see your underwear in public!"
