There is a very weird trend that has been spreading around these counties of New York. Teenagers from all around, urban, suburban, city-goers of any race have been pulling their pants down to below their rears. Many teens who are into this trend imply that they are trying to get “swag.” Swag is a slang term which means “to move heavily or unsteadily from side to side or up and down; sway.” This trend was started by an inmate in prison when they would “sag” their pants because they weren’t allowed to wear belts. In some places, if you were seen without the dropped pants, than you were known as un-cool.
Across the country, cities try to convince teens to pull the pants up. They went to extreme measures and would fine anyone who was caught with their pants hanging. Many individuals find this new trend to be having a lack of self-respect and a disregard to the public.
The teenagers walking around with their pants down to their knees say it’s a comfortable trend that will eventually outgrow. They let their pants sag underneath long T-shirts or shirts that slightly cover their underwear. Even they don’t understand why some other teens take it the extreme, where pants are belt strapped just above the kneecap, causing them to walk skew-footed like a penguin. This awkward fashion statement has been around for almost a decade.
State Senator, Eric Adams of Brooklyn has sponsored the billboard campaign with the slogan “Raise your pants, Raise your image!” “I was on a subway train, and there was this young man,” State Senator Eric Adams of Brooklyn said. “His behind was showing, literally. He had underwear, but even the underwear was sagging. All the passengers were looking at each other in disgust, but nobody was saying anything.” Mr. Adams wants to change the act of sag. No one else is doing anything about it, so he will. Raised undergarments, means raised respect.
Jamarcus Marshall, a 17-year-old high school sophomore in Mansfield, Louisiana, believes that no one should be able to tell him how low to wear his jeans. “It’s up to the person who’s wearing the pants,” he said to a reporter Niko Koppel of The New York Times on August 30, 2007 “Fashion & Style.” Since June 11, sagging jeans has been banned from Delcambre, Louisiana. The style carries a fine of as much as $500 or up to a six-month sentence.
What happened to the neatness and true style that came out of each style of clothes? There was neatness but spunk to the way a person would dress. It has all come to down to being asked to pull up your pants when walking around in public. Many groups and schools want this offensive fashion statement banned and out of the question. Teenagers don’t find showing off excessive skin acceptable.