Sagging (fashion)
"Sagging" is the fashion of wearing trousers (slacks, shorts or jeans) below the waist, sported by males. Usually the underwear is worn higher, so that the underwear is exposed, but not much bare skin.
It became popular among young males in the 1990s and remains widespread today. This style of fashion has had several variations and exists in several youth cultures and other groups, including twink, hip hop and punk rock.
Overview
The "sporting" of the style is when a male wears his pants/trousers low enough on his hips to show his underwear, usually done with boxer shorts. A belt may be deliberately not worn to reinforce his sagging, or a belt is used to hold the sag at his desired level—preventing the outer garment from falling off.
Sagging has had several variations and exists not only in the gay, but in several other subcultures, such as the hip hop, fetish, skater and rave subcultures.
Sagging is also popular among males in the rock scene—and is sometimes sported by many bands. Some have alleged that the trend was started by homosexuals in prison to advertise their sexual preference. However, this has been debunked as an urban legend. The trend does have prison origins, but is related to ill-fitting prison garb combined with the absence of belts, not homosexuality.[1] Increasingly, though, it has become a marker of homosexuality among young urban gay men, and a means of declaring sexual availability.[2]
Throughout the years the variations in which men/boys sag their pants has changed. In recent years the trend of "going commando" while sagging has become popular in some countries, and even the underwear used to sag has changed. In countries such as Australia, for instance, it has become very popular to sag to show off briefs, often Bonds or other brands of white or coloured briefs.
In some parts of the world, it has become very popular for guys to sag while shirtless, especially on warm days.
Other variations of sagging include how low the pants sit beneath the waist. The wearing of pants below the buttocks is known as ass sagging as it offers a view on the 'under-dressed' posterior. This is not nearly as common as sagging just above the buttocks or even half way down the buttocks.
In the UK in 2006, sagging is more popular than ever with boys wearing huge Phat pants, which fit at the waist but get wider down the legs all the way to the ground where they enclose the feet due to their width. Sagging jeans while wearing a hoodie is extremely popular as well as wearing short or long t-shirts.
Controversy
Sagging is considered in many countries to be a minor type of indecent exposure. In many school districts across the United States, sagging is prohibited. Sagging became a minor offense in Georgia by law in 2005. The Virginia General Assembly, lead by Republicans, tried but failed to approve a law making the sagging style illegal in winter 2005.
There is also a growing critique of the "Sagger-admirer" culture, in that the interests and activities of men who admire and are sexually attracted to saggers may border on pedophilia or ephebophilia, or actually cross into that realm.
See also
References
- ^ Snopes.com. URL last accessed September 21, 2006.
- ^ http://www.saggerworld.com/ Site for admirers of saggers