Discuss - Anti-Saggy Pants Law

[I Shall Engrave]

So recently a law has been passed in Ocala, Florida banning the wearing of pants low so that the underwear shows. I'm sure you've all seen this "style". Wearing your pants like this is punishable by a $500 fine and up to 6 months in jail.

Here is the article:

http://www.complex.com/style/2014/07/oc ... -pants-law

Now, do you support this law or are you against it? Why?

(I'll add my thoughts later)

[Kitalpha Hart]

Woo "fashiom"
Where a lot of things are bad for your health, and a lot of things look ridiculous
Sag too low, you risk tripping and falling into your face

[I Shall Engrave]

If you don't like people wearing their pants that way, that's your personal problem. But when the government starts policing what we wear, there is something wrong.

[Lime]

I'll admit, I absolutely despise the "sagging pants" trend.

It just looks unkempt, and I think it also looks really stupid the way they have to waddle to get anywhere.

Do I think there should be a law about it though? No, they're not harming anyone. It's a matter of perspective. It's like if they passed a law saying all these women weren't allowed to wear leggings or yoga pants because they were too skin-tight or "you're not doing yoga!" -- people would bitch.

Everybody is going to have fashion they don't like. I don't think it's very fair to pass a law that you like, only because you don't like how they wear their pants.

[galled]

While I think the gansta look is incredibly silly, I think a law against it hurts the pursuit (pardon the pun) of law enforcement. If you've ever watched the show COPS, you've noticed that when the bad guys (who follow these saggy pants fashion cues), can't run away from the police without tripping on their pants (which are usually down around their ankles after a couple of steps!). They can't even reload their guns (the other hand is holding their pants up) quick enough to not get shot. If fact, it's so ludicris (another pun?) that if the police had thought of it first and pawned it on the criminal element it would got down in history as one the greatest crime fighting schemes of all time.

[Lime]

Hah, that's totally true! I didn't even think of that..

Yeah, why let them run faster? Let 'em trip over their own pants.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

I do not support a law that tells us how we should dress but if Florida gangs are anything like southern California gangs then I understand why they may want it enforced. Most of us average citizens just believe it has to do with style but in gang territory what you wear and how you wear it marks you as to which gang you are in. And if you are part of a gang and do not dress accordingly you can receive much harsher treatment then a fine from the gang members. A gov't ordinance may give those people trying to disassociate themselves from the gangs an excuse or reason not to dress the way the gang is pressuring them to (say they can't afford the fines or jail time).

Now, why the gangs like to dress that way goes beyond my understanding...

Remember too that not that long ago women could be fined for wearing pants in public, I don't understand what the obsession is in dictating what people can and cannot wear.I understand having uniforms at work and I understand not wearing anything obscene but dictating clothing can be traced back for centuries and in some cultures still exist and it is not always a good thing.

[MonkeyGirl18]

That's stupid. If they want to walk around and risk falling on their face and publicly humiliate themselves, that's enough punishment as it is. Why wear pants if you're just going to show off your underwear?

[Lemon Cheesecake]

I never thought of them wanting to show off their underwear...

Do you think if it wasn't made into an issue that saggy pants would become just a fad and eventually just fade away?

[MonkeyGirl18]

Probably. The government shouldn't have bothered. Everything with fashion changes, including sagging pants.

[I Shall Engrave]

One of my friends argues that it's disrespectful to the public, and that underwear was made to be worn UNDER. She thinks it's inappropriate and asks where the line is drawn. Next people will wander around in just underwear or even nude. At what point are "fashion choices" deemed unacceptable?

[Diana]

That's along the lines of what I was thinking, actually!
Walking around your underwear is technically indecent exposure, and throwing on pants around your ankles doesn't really count as wearing them. The Florida law treated saggy pants/buttcracks like public nudity (worth a couple hundred dollars in fines, at least around here).

Though it looks like the Florida saggy pants law was revoked two months later

[Lemon Cheesecake]

When you think about it people already do walk around in their underwear, walk around in their pajama's and walk around half nude and with some bikini's or style of clothing that are sheer or netted or extremely tight, they might as well be nude.What about not wearing underwear under your clothes at all? What does that say about our society? What about "plumbers pants"? Is that indecent exposure?

So, where do you draw the line? When is it indecent exposure? When is it public nudity? Do you arrest them only if they won't cover up or go get changed? Does location matter? Because you get a lot of nudity and body exposure at the beach and at a nudist colony you know you will be seeing nudity, is that acceptable because you are prepared for it and it is in designated areas?

[galled]

I never thought of them wanting to show off their underwear...

Hmm, neither did I... perhaps it'd be better to wear your underwear on the outside, like Superman and Batman!

[Silverfire]

In a way I think it should be banned but for health reasons. People who sag their pants all the time risk running into ED or necrosis of certain parts. Some guys have lost their little fellas because of tightly sagging pants, people! If a guy ever wanted a excuse to get out of following a trend, remember that one.

Not to mention that it can also lead to decreased sperm count, UTI's, infections, rashes, deformed packages, little fellas caught in zippers, bruising, swelling, broken fellas, and probably several more reasons that I have forgotten. It's just generally a bad idea (tm) to sag pants plus no one really wants to see ass as they walk around in the store.