Baggy, Saggy, and Illegal?

According to The Week Daily, "Towns in at least eight states are considering or have already enacted laws against wearing baggy pants low enough to expose underwear."

Should a fashion trend be illegal?

Who should determine the standard for these local dress codes? The only other fashion statement I can remember drawing attention from lawmakers is the displaying of gang "colors," which never spread through the larger youth community the way ultra low-riding pants have. Unlike colors, which revealed the wearers gang sympathy or affiliation, baggies are worn by young people of all races and economic backgrounds. If anything, I find it to be a sign of disaffected youth, sticking it to "the man" (who is probably still imagined as a middle-aged white guy) by refusing to conform to social expectations about dress.

While the notion of criminalizing baggies is absurd to me (at least one of the towns mentioned in the article is only considering a "symbolic" ban), I definitely think that Judaism has something to say on the topic. The Jewish value of modesty definitely comes into play. I do not want to see other people's underwear in public. A parallel trend that is a pet peeve of mine is the wearing by women and girls of ultra-low-riding pants, which often reveal not only underwear, but also what should be covered by them. (My husband calls them "Jr. Plumbers" due to the display of butt crack.) Similarly, I once sent a 13-year-old girl home from religious school for wearing pants that laced up the sides. I am going to go out on a limb and say that lace-up pants imply the undoing of the laces, and teenage girls (or any other women) should not be wearing what amounts to a sexual invitation--particularly at a synagogue.

Secondly, Judaism emphasizes continually that one should emulate only the best examples of behavior. Although it is not always at the highest level of awareness, there is an understanding that baggies are a reminder of prison culture, where belts have been often been banned due to their potential use as a weapon. And imitating violent criminals is definitely not something the rabbis had in mind.

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