I met a parent recently that would not allow her son to wear a hoodie. She said “hoodies for boys certainly 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 in which a certain style of hoodie was going to be banned. It had been a faceless hoodie, one that could be zipped around completely cover the wearer’s face. It even had two transparent elliptical plastic eyes to check through! Security forces felt it had been 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 perhaps a full-bodied hazmat suit. It had been camo colored and I simply knew the wearer had a concealed assault rifle somewhere!
This got me thinking about hoodies in general. sp5der hoodie mean, why are they so often associated with criminal behavior nowadays. It didn’t used to be that way. Didn’t folks from all backgrounds just put them on to be casual and stay warm simultaneously. 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 could lock your cold hands in. They even annoyed me at times when I’d lose the neck string in 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 was 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. Of course so did the wicked queen when she was a witch. Actually lots of witches ware hoodies! What about Shrek… and Rocky? 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 point and time. Even the Mexican Serape could have a hood on it if Sombreros weren’t so cool!
The main point is that hoodies are for everybody even for boys, and they don’t make anybody good or bad. We do that ourselves with or without the hoodie. Hoodies can be made with certain colors combinations or logos to recognize the wearer with a particular lifestyle or group and maybe that’s were one needs to use a little discernment or common sense but after that I think it just boils down to they are comfortable, convenient and down right practical. So ultimately I will continue steadily to wear my hoodie and hopefully it doesn’t upset anyone.