New Jersey has now joined Miami, New Orleans and towns in Georgia in banning the sagging pants style made popular by hip-hop culture and worn by mostly black and Hispanic youths—though some white kids also embrace the style. According to The New York Daily News, the crackdown on butt-crack display, which garnered a unanimous vote from the Wildwood, NJ, town council Wednesday, will apply to the city’s boardwalk.
Mayor Ernest Troiano said he and some of the town folk find the style distasteful. “Sagging has become very offensive to a number of people. I’m not trying to be the fashion police, but personally I find it offensive when a guy’s butt is hanging out!” he said.
The mayor wants tourists who come to the boardwalk to be spared looking at asses hanging out of boxers and briefs. I swear I’m not making this up. Here are Troiano actual words: “I don’t know who comes to the boardwalk and says, ‘Let’s go to the boardwalk and find out how many asses we can see.’”
Pants worn 3 inches below the hips are now prohibited and will carry a $25 to $200 fine if the law is violated. The law also bans folks from going shirtless after 8 p.m., and residents must wear shoes at all times. Cops also have the power to cite anyone wearing too-short skirts or blouses that are too revealing.
