JAMARCUS MARSHALL, a 17-year-old high school sophomore in ansfield, La., believes that no one should be able to tell him how low to wear his jeans. “It’s up to the person who’s wearing the pants,” he said.
Mr. Marshall’s sagging pants, a style popularized in the early 1990s by
hip-hop artists, are becoming a criminal offense in a growing number of communities, including his own.
Starting in Louisiana, an intensifying push by lawmakers has determined pants worn low enough to expose underwear poses a threat to the public, and they have enacted indecency ordinances to stop it.
Males in Delcambre, Louisiana who are charged with this crime (let's be honest, these are males that are doing this - I've never seen a female wear their pants below their hips) may have to pay a $500 fine or spend six months in jail. The Louisiana town of Mansfield has lesser fines and a reduced time in jail.
The article mentions that the phenomenon of sagging pants began in prison, when inmates often wore baggy clothes without belts (this was done out of fear of suicide). It doesn't mention, however, that inmates often took someone wearing sagging pants as a sign that he wanted sexual relations. We've all learned this week that tapping one's foot in a bathroom stall can be seen as a sign of sexual desire. In today's world, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find something that isn't associated with sexuality.
