Sex Hysteria!

Nothing gets under the skin of culture conformists like the rebellious trend of wearing one’s pants so low that their underwear is exposed, also known as sagging.

The latest installment in this ongoing movement to legislate style comes out of Georgia:

On Tuesday, Dublin Mayor Phil Best signed an ordinance adopted by the City Council that makes it a violation of the city code to have saggy pants.

But the trend, popularized by hip hop artists  dates back to the 90s with legislation to ban the practice starting in Louisiana and spreading to other localities.

As the New York times points out in this 2007 article, saggy pants is largely an African American trend rasing the question that banning the practice has racial overtones, although many of the ordinances are sponsored by black officials.  The article draws a parallel with another style rebellion:

Not since the zoot suit has a style been greeted with such strong disapproval. The exaggerated boxy long coat and tight-cuffed pants, started in the 1930s, was the emblematic style of a subculture of young urban minorities. It was viewed as unpatriotic and flouted a fabric conservation order during World War II. The clothing was at the center of what were called Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles, racially motivated beatings of Hispanic youths by sailors. The youths were stripped of their garments, which were burned in the street.

Earlier this year a New York Court struck down ordinances banning baggy pants, but cities in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Michigan continue to outlaw the style in the name of public decency.  Laws to ban the trend have also been proposed at the state level.

So what does all this say?  Well, for one thing, it certainly makes it clear that freedom of expression is only secure if the public and the courts are willing to defend it.   If a style of dress can be banned, then no expression is safe.  The First Amendment is not there to protect what we like.  It’s there to protect what we don’t like and any legislator, whether it be at the city, state, or national level, that votes to abridge free expression, is violating their oath to preserve and protect the Constitution.

If the motivation for the trend is rebelliousness, then it has been a rip roaring success, because it clearly causes a great deal of anxiety among the more conservative elements of society.  And the very fact that it makes people uncomfortable highlights their insecurity and fear of anyone not like them.

But, when you cut through the irrational claims, the fact remains that how you dress threatens absolutely no one.