I met a parent recently that could not allow her son to wear a hoodie. klaim kaos mpo777 said “hoodies for boys are a bad idea”. She felt they promoted a negative attitude and also worse, rebellion. “Only criminal types put them on” she said. I didn’t agree needless to say, because I had worn them for a long time and don’t consider myself to become a “criminal type.”
I did however recently read a British news article where a certain style of hoodie was going to be banned. It had been a faceless hoodie, one which could be zipped up to completely cover the wearer’s face. It even had two transparent elliptical plastic eyes to look through! Security forces felt it was sinister and allowed wearers to completely conceal their identity. I have to admit it was pretty wicked looking and reminded me of someone wearing a gas mask or a full-bodied hazmat suit. It was camo colored and I simply knew the wearer had a concealed assault rifle somewhere!
This got me thinking about hoodies in general. I mean, why are they so often associated with criminal behavior now days. It didn’t was previously that way. Didn’t folks from all backgrounds just wear them to be casual and stay warm as well. When I was a youngster we just called them sweat shirts with hoods and you either wore a pullover or one that zipped up. I thought the pockets were what made them cool, one big one over the front you can lock your cold hands in. They even annoyed me sometimes when I’d lose the neck string inside the sweat shirt and it would take me hours to obtain it back!
I was thinking about all of the famous or notorious personalities through history who wore hoodies. There is medieval monks, they wore sort ‘a corny looking dark pullover with hoods. And through the same time the average European peasant wore a hoodie like coat or blanket, right? Think about Robin Hood? There was Little Red Riding Hood. The Seven Dwarfs and Snow White herself. Needless to say so did the wicked queen when she was a witch. Actually lots of witches ware hoodies! Think about Shrek… and Rocky? There is really a couple or hero types that wore a hoodies (and a beanie in Rocky’s case). What I’m saying is merely about every stereotype are available wearing a hoodie at some time and time. Even the Mexican Serape could have a hood onto it if Sombreros weren’t so cool!
The main point is that hoodies are for everyone even for boys, and they don’t make anybody good or bad. We do this ourselves with or minus the hoodie. Hoodies can be designed with certain colors combinations or logos to identify the wearer with a certain lifestyle or group and maybe that is were one needs to use a little discernment or good sense but after that I believe it just boils right down to they’re comfortable, convenient and down right practical. So in the end I will continue steadily to wear my hoodie and hopefully it generally does not upset anyone.