June 3rd, 2009
Police in Flint, MI, issue ‘crackdown’ on saggy pants
We may not actually be a real police force (sorry to burst anyone's bubble, there), but that doesn't mean the Fashion Police don't exist, and as longtime readers of this site may remember, the police force in Flint, Michigan, are only too happy to turn their hands to fashion policing, if it means they get to arrest people in saggy pants. Yes, wearing saggy pants has actually been outlawed in Flint, and now it's being reported that the force there have issued this handy guide to help people stay on the right side of the law: or to help their pants stay on the right side of the butt, as the case may be.
It's wrong that we were amused by the word "crackdown" in the headline, isn't it?
[Source]
Ok, ok, but I find it a bit unfair that showing any underwear gets you a warning. It has happened to everybody wearing low-rise torusers, especially when you sit down, even if they are not “saggy”. What about showing a little butt crack when you bend over to pick something on the floor? That’s not indecent, it’s part of life.
So even though I’m by no means a fan of saggy trousers or similarily skimpy clothes, I think this could go too far. I wonder if the Flint police will soon ban deep cleavages, very short skirts and shorts, cropped or too short tops, tops that reveal, inadvertantly or not, the shape of nipples, etc.
Alice, I thought that too – I don’t like the saggy pants either, but I do wear low-rise jeans and pants, and I’m pretty sure there’ll have been times when my undies have inadvertently been visible. It happens
I guess the answer is to never visit Flint!
I think this is a perfectly ridiculous bylaw. I mean, seriously, indecency? In the middle picture, it may not be the jeans covering everything up, but everything is covered, and as has been said, a little butt crack shows from time to time, and it’s hardly a big deal. Are we regressing to Puritanical values here? Next thing you know, they’ll be issuing tickets for mini skirts and exposed bra straps.
Saggy pants are definitely supremely tacky, but but making them illegal smacks of censorship and totalitarianism to me.
I hate when guys have their pants below their butt. But I don’t want fine and jail them. The last thing we need to pay for more non-violent offenders to sit in jail. I Would like to know how the heck they manage to keep their pants on. They’re defying my understanding of clothing and physics with every step.
It’s just so arbitrary and silly. You could go around wearing lightweight shorts or swim trunks or speedos… but if wear a pair of jeans over them, thereby turning them into ‘underwear’, you could get jail time for exposing what you could otherwise walk around in by itself with no problems?
As a Michigan kid, I know that this is in place since last year, but honestly hasn’t been enforced at all. Seriously, how could they?
The weird part is that it’s only in Flint, the area with the highest crime rating in Michigan… perhaps it’s easier to hide weapons in saggy pants, or it is another symbol of the uber-subversive youth in Flint? Not sure.
As a Michigan kid, I know that this is in place since last year, but honestly hasn’t been enforced at all. Seriously, how could they?
The weird part is that it’s only in Flint, the area with the highest crime rating in Michigan… perhaps it’s easier to hide weapons in saggy pants, or it is another symbol of the uber-subversive youth in Flint? Not sure.
What a scary place.
I hate saggy pants &/or exposed butt as much as the next person, but outlawing it is equally absurd and disturbing.
Oh yeah, and “crackdown” got a giggle from me before I’d even read the article.