I met a parent recently that would not allow her son to wear a hoodie. She said “hoodies for boys are a bad idea”. She felt they promoted a negative attitude and also worse, rebellion. “Only criminal types wear them” she said. I didn’t agree needless to say, because I had worn them for years and don’t consider myself to become a “criminal type.”
I did so however recently read a British news article in which a certain style of hoodie would be banned. It was a faceless hoodie, one that could be zipped up to completely cover the wearer’s face. It even had two transparent elliptical plastic eyes to check through! http://yoursite.com felt it was sinister and allowed wearers to totally 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 just 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 used to be that way. Didn’t folks from all backgrounds just wear them to be casual and stay warm simultaneously. When I was a kid we just called them sweat shirts with hoods and you either wore a pullover or one which 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 at times when I would lose the neck string in the sweat shirt also it would take me hours to get it back!
I was thinking about all the famous or notorious personalities through history who wore hoodies. There was medieval monks, they wore sort ‘a corny looking dark pullover with hoods. And during the same time the common European peasant wore a hoodie like coat or blanket, right? What about Robin Hood? There was Little Red Riding Hood. The Seven Dwarfs and Snow White herself. Of course so did the wicked queen when she was a witch. Actually a great deal of witches ware hoodies! Think about Shrek… and Rocky? Now there is 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 can be found wearing a hoodie at some time and time. Even the Mexican Serape would have a hood onto it if Sombreros weren’t so cool!
The point is that hoodies are for everybody even for boys, plus they don’t make anybody good or bad. We do that ourselves with or minus the hoodie. Hoodies can be made with certain colors combinations or logos to identify the wearer with a particular lifestyle or group of people and maybe that’s were one needs to work with a little discernment or good sense but after that I think it just boils right down to they’re comfortable, convenient and down right practical. So in the end I will continue to wear my hoodie and hopefully it generally does not upset anyone.
