Identity sags in transition

Type :

Case study

Pages :

6 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

12/18/2008

Category :

Arts & media

Sub category :

Journalism

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Summary :

Introduction.
The act of sagging and its evolution out of prison culture.
Sagging as a direct response to the socio-cultural experience of modern day African-American communities.
The book Dress Codes by Ruth Rubinstein.
1. The gangsta rap style of dress.
2. Implementation of mandatory dress codes.
Primary research methods for the paper.
1. The thirty informants who were asked when they started sagging and why.
2. Sagging to enhance ones style.
3. Sagging as a condition of habit.
4. Sagging as a condition of habit.
Fieldwork notes.
Collector's comments.

Abstract

In February of 2005, the state of Virginia proposed a "Droopy Drawers" bill. The House voted 60-34 for this bill (Bellantoni), but was later shot down by the Senate. If passed, one would have been facing a fifty-dollar fine for sagging. "It's not an attack on baggy pants," said delegate Algie T Howell Jr., "To vote for this bill would be a vote for character, to uplift your community and to do something good not only for the state of Virginia, but for this entire country," (Bellantoni). My attention was brought to this bill by my father, who sent me an email with the newspaper article attached. All he added in the email was, "...You probably shouldn't be heading to Virginia anytime soon." My father often gives me flack for wearing my pants so low. His email made me laugh, but the newspaper article did not. Delegate Howell's statement seriously bothered me, mainly in that it labeled the act of sagging a parasitic behavior undermining community values; as if raising one's pants will thus uplift one's community.