# Hey you racist "realists" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 20, 2013, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-racist-realists/674329 "2013-11-20T09:30:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-racist-realists/674329/121 "2013-11-22T23:21:25Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > I’m still floored by the idea that baggy saggy pants are somehow considered “thuggy” and have yet to hear any compelling reason why teens dressed that way are assumed to be thugs. > > In fact teens of both races have been dressing that way for decades now. > > Here’s an appropriate clip from the movie Clueless which takes place at an upscale Beverly Hills private school. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xevjs\_dtkk8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xevjs_dtkk8) Did you watch enough of the movie to glean that the (sharply dressed) girls put UP with, rather than admired,or preferred their male peers’ clothing styles? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-racist-realists/674329/122 "2013-11-23T01:53:15Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Did you watch enough of the movie to glean that the (sharply dressed) girls put UP with, rather than admired,or preferred their male peers’ clothing styles? 🙂 Er yes. You’ll notice they complain about it being sloppy, not “thuggy” and we have yet to find any evidence that such clothing is “thuggy”. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-racist-realists/674329/123 "2013-11-23T01:54:40Z")
> [@Tee](#): > > Because it originated in prison. Certain people find this association endearing and adopt it for themselves. So, if you’d seen the guys in the Clueless video you’d have assumed they were “thugs”? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-racist-realists/674329/124 "2013-11-23T04:53:02Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > I’ve already answered this same question/comment several times. If the white kid and black kid’s clothes had been the opposite, I would have had the same reaction to the **clothing**. I love the way you keep acting as if people are saying that they’re associating the clothing with the race of the kid. What they’re actually saying is that they reacted to the clothing of the kid, as opposed to the race of the kid. I would have had the same reaction had the white kid been dressed all saggy. I know you are saying it’s all about the clothing. I am saying culture is not created in a vacuum and if you have reason to believe that black kids are more thuggy than white, then you will associate forms of dress you associate with black kids with “thuggyness” more than you will associate the forms of dress you associate with white kids with “thuggyness.” ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-racist-realists/674329/125 "2013-11-23T07:27:12Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > Yes, but it’s not as bad as women wearing leggings as pants, though. Leggings ARE pants, what’s the matter with you? ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-racist-realists/674329/126 "2013-11-23T07:54:49Z")
Hey, maybe the reactions were based on experience. By the time I was in my late 30s I had much experience with having my bikes and my kids’ bikes stolen, and the breakdown was thus: white males - 1 bike and 1 aborted attempt black males - 4 bikes and 1 aborted attempt hispanic males - 2 bikes and 2 aborted attempts (One white male is assumed, as I later saw him riding around on the bike in question, but I didn’t see him steal it. The one with the hacksaw was wearing bike shorts and one of those awful tops, and he booked it when we approached our bikes.) In all successful and one unsuccessful case the MO of the hispanic males was to knock the rider off the bike and then ride off, fast. So based on this life experience, if I saw a kid (any color) sawing away on a bike lock with a hacksaw, and said kid didn’t run off upon being observed, I would assume it was his bike or a bike he was somehow authorized to be liberating. If queried, a real bike thief would probably say it was his bike (or her bike). But if there was some way to gauge whether I thought it was more likely that a black kid would steal a bike than a white kid, then yeah, I would think it’s more likely. And would I be wrong? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-racist-realists/674329/127 "2013-11-23T07:59:24Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Leggings ARE pants, what’s the matter with you? I don’t think so. The legs of pants are attached to each other. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-racist-realists/674329/128 "2013-11-23T08:09:57Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I don’t think so. The legs of pants are attached to each other. So are the legs of leggings. Go on, google it. Maybe you are thinking of leg warmers, which are not pants. Or maybe you are thinking of tights, which also aren’t pants. ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-racist-realists/674329/129 "2013-11-23T14:05:10Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > So, if you’d seen the guys in the Clueless video you’d have assumed they were “thugs”? I was out of high school when the movie came out, but they look a lot like the guys you could get weed from. Just saying. Also, if the crotch of your pants is down by your kneecaps, you’re probably not getting around on a bicycle. I said “probably”; I would love to see a clip that proves me wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-racist-realists/674329/130 "2013-11-23T14:54:55Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > So are the legs of leggings. Go on, google it. > > Maybe you are thinking of leg warmers, which are not pants. > > Or maybe you are thinking of tights, which also aren’t pants. I’m not female, so I’m not an expert, but it’s an internet meme. The gist of it is this: Leggings are leggings. Not pants. They are meant to be worn under an outfit that’s appropriate for leggings. Not on their own. [Incontrovertible Proof that Leggings are not Pants](http://www.ct.com/blog/wtxx-incontrovertible-proof-that-leggings-are-not-pants-20120326,0,2747720.story) Many women I know mock those who wear leggings as pants. I’d be surprised if we didn’t have a thread on it somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-racist-realists/674329/131 "2013-11-23T14:57:46Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > So are the legs of leggings. Go on, google it. Oh, and don’t do this. [It’s](http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4524555991646642&w=160&h=184&c=7&rs=1&pid=1.7) [a](http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.5039904796508616&w=127&h=188&c=7&rs=1&pid=1.7) [trap](http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.5026646247735525&w=141&h=184&c=7&rs=1&pid=1.7)! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-racist-realists/674329.md?page=6)