Lock your doors and tighten your belts – the fashion police are out in full force.City officials across the country are petitioning to outlaw baggy pants.
In Dallas, school board member Ron Price said “it’s dishonorable and disgusting to see grown men walking around with their underwear showing.”
Who is to say it isn’t disgusting to see grown men walking around in fuchsia polo shirts and shorts with whales on them?
Bottom line – the city has no right to implement laws governing what citizens should or should not wear.
In Atlanta, critics are arguing that this is a crackdown on culture, not clothes.
I agree.
Granted, even though I don’t particularly enjoy seeing someone else’s underwear, people should have the right to make their own fashion choices – even if that means resorting to perpetually using one arm, as the other is constantly holding up a belt buckle.
Atlanta City Councilman C.T. Martin claims his ordinance would make exposing underwear the equivalent of having sex in public.
Call me crazy, but those acts are not one in the same.
Some argue that the petitions are unfairly targeting blacks, and the American Civil Liberties Union agrees.
“It’s going to target African-American male youths. There’s a fear with people associating the way you dress with crimes being committed,” said Benetta Standly, statewide organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia in an article by the Associated Press.
If the underlying argument includes concerns of concealing weapons in baggy pants, I invite anyone to take a look into my GAP tote bag – my entire life can fit into that bag.
What about overalls? Who knows what or who could be hiding in those.
If the underlying argument includes concerns of exposing underwear in public, petitions should target anyone who has worn a sparkly thong pulled up above their jeans, plumbers, construction workers and more.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, who is to say when jeans are too tight? Skinny jeans are a new trend, and sometimes those leave nothing to the imagination.
In Delcambre, La., the City Council passed an ordinance that carries a fine up to $500 or six months in jail for exposing underwear in public, according to the article by the Associated Press.
These laws are actually being passed, and what I can’t understand is how one determines what is too baggy.
Is the police force going to implement a de-baggifier? A code of baggitude?
If fashion is a way to express oneself, then it should be included in what the First Amendment promises – freedom of speech.
Opinion editor Sonya Cisneros is a senior news-editorial journalism and communication studies major from Fort Worth.
