When was sagging pants invented

But there is also a belief that sagging has its roots in slavery, dating back to a time when Africans were first enslaved in America. At that point, the master would brutally rape the man.

Whether or not men are wearing their pants as a fashion statement, there is a lot read into the style. Contribute Now. Stay up to date with all the latest news that affects you in politics, finance and more.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. The current moral panic, however, is particularly dangerous because it seduces us into focusing on the behaviors of youth rather than the current set of social conditions that place them under unprecedented levels of attack. In reality, these policies— combined with the elimination of after-school programs, playgrounds, recreation centers, and public libraries—are far more likely to produce anti-social outcomes than a pair of low-riding jeans.

We do not wish to be drawn into the trap of criminalizing our own. It is, however, to our benefit to discuss how we are perceived and how it is often those perceptions that make difficult the progress we seek to make.

Collectively we must change that which is of little benefit to us all. Staff at Citizens are very concerned about how people in prison are perceived. The perceptions of those who literally have power over whether a person in prison may get on with their lives after paying their debt to society is likely to be fueled by perceptions related to African-Americans in general and particularly those from urban communities.

We view part of our work as an effort to improve the way people in prison are perceived and to engage in efforts to recreate in a positive way, images associated with people in prison.

Although in prison, there should be no wholesale demonization or criminalization of people just because they are incarcerated. Going to prison is the punishment. Thus, we at Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc. While nothing we have found supports this fear, one can easily make the leap and think this to be true. We have, however, found the very opposite to be true in our exchanges with people in prison.

Among the hundreds of letters we have received from people in prison, nearly all have disassociated themselves from sagging. Typical comments made on this point are reprinted with permission below. Many in society are unaware of the positive adjustments that incarcerated men and women make while in prison and, sadly, only focus on negative perceptions.

Blaming continued sagging on people in prison is just another way of putting people in prison down and stripping away our humanity. People in prison are not heroes. Yet no one could stop this fashion blight. But America recently reached a cultural turning point that few seem to have noticed: The days of staring at the droopy drawers of young men in public are coming to a close, fashion experts, historians and even holdout saggers say.

The era of sagging pants is ending. Read More. I live in Brooklyn, and when I walk down the street, I rarely see it. Fashion trends have long provoked bewilderment. In 16th century England, wealthy women blackened their teeth to mimic the decaying teeth of Queen Elizabeth I, whose fondness for sugar destroyed her oral health. European men around the same time wore codpieces to advertise their phallic prowess. Ancient Egyptians were the original coneheads: Noblewomen wore scented cones made of wax, fat or oils that released a scented fragrance as they melted.

Still, the sagging pants phenomenon was such a curious development that its passing merits some examination. How did young men wearing their pants closer to their knees than their waists ever become fashionable? Why did it stop being popular? What started the sag.

One can't discuss sagging without addressing one of its most common origin myths. The short answer: It didn't start with homosexual sex in prison.

According to lore, inmates allegedly sagged their pants to signal sexual availability. But Snopes, the fact-checking website, says this story is false.

Sagging did begin in prison, but for a more banal reason: Prisoners were often issued clothing that was too large for them and they couldn't wear belts. Explains Snopes: "Belts are not permitted in most correctional facilities because all too often the lifeless bodies of their inmate owners have been found hanging from them.

For the original saggers -- the young African-American men who sparked the trend -- sagging became an act of self-expression, a form of art. A "Stop the Sag! The sag has finally stopped, but not because of any public campaign. Ford, an associate professor of black American studies and history at the University of Delaware and author of "Liberated Threads. Others see sagging as a symptom of contemporary America's fondness for sloppiness. They wear flip-flops to church.

We've become a more relaxed culture. Miller doesn't even pretend to bring any academic detachment to the subject of sagging. Some critics, including Miller, are so glad to see this fashion trend evaporate that they don't care why it went.

They're just glad it's on the way out. What if everyone started wearing a toga?