Evanston Moves Forward With Baggy Pants Rule

Looks like Evanston, Illinois will come forward to ban baggy pants. I've blogged at least twice about other cities choosing to ban this fashion trend.

Wearers of saggy pants that dip too low could be in violation of city decency standards under an ordinance that moved forward in Evanston Monday night.

Members of Evanston's Human Services Committee voted in favor of a redefinition of public nudity.

Under the proposed ordinance, nudity would be defined as "the showing of the human male or female genitals, pubic areas or buttocks, or female breasts with less than a full opaque covering of any portion thereof below the top of the nipple."

Women breast feeding in public are exempt from the definition.

Alderman Lionel Jean-Baptiste proposed the ordinance in response to a trend among some youth wearing their pants too low.

Jean-Baptiste also expressed concerns about the long-term health effects of saggy pants on wearers as they walk and try to keep their pants hitched up.

The issue first came to the committee's attention in a police report.

I think I understand and may agree with what they're trying to do, however, I think there are much more important issues than regulating how a person dresses.

NY State Senator urges young men to pull up their pants

Eric Adams is launching a campaign of sorts to discourage young men from wearing their sagging pants. The Senator wants young men to know that they should care about themselves and that this fashion style originated in prison. This video is courtesy of Reuters.

It's the law: No sagging pants in Chicago suburb

AP story via Newsalert:

Be careful if you have saggy pants in the south Chicago suburb of Lynwood. Village leaders have passed an ordinance that would levy $25 fines against anyone showing three inches or more of their underwear in public.

Eugene Williams is the mayor of Lynwood. He says young men walk around town half-dressed, keeping major retailers and economic development away. He calls the new law a hot topic.

I've done other posts where there were similar proposals or laws enacted around the nation. I just feel like there are slippery slopes to this. I'm erring on the side of not criminalizing bad fashion choices.

If you want to encourage young men to say, dress in business attire, there are certainly better ways of achieving that than passing laws against bad fashion choices. If young men want to walk around with sagging pants showing their underwear and when running using one hand to hold up their pants and in addition to that incur the stereotypes that might come with the style, then let them. Hopefully they'll learn although unfortunately for some young men no one is around to teach them about how to dress.

RELATED ITEMS
Items about banning things
Another town bans sagging pants.
MyUrbanReport talks about an ATL ordinance banning sagging pants...
Low hanging pants