Hoodies For Boys – Aren’t They A Good Idea?
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 bad 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 years and don’t consider myself to become a “criminal type.”
http://yoursite.com 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 up to completely cover the wearer’s face. It even had two transparent elliptical plastic eyes to look through! Security forces felt it had been sinister and allowed wearers to completely conceal their identity. I must admit it was pretty wicked looking and reminded me of someone wearing a gas mask or a full-bodied hazmat suit. It had been camo colored and I just knew the wearer had a concealed assault rifle somewhere!
This got me considering hoodies in general. After all, why are they frequently associated with criminal behavior nowadays. It didn’t used to be that way. Didn’t people 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 can lock your cold hands in. They even annoyed me at times when I would lose the neck string inside the sweat shirt also it would take me hours to obtain it back!
I was thinking about all 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 a lot of witches ware hoodies! What 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 am saying is just about every stereotype can be found 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 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 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 believe it just boils right down to they are comfortable, convenient and down right practical. So ultimately I will continue to wear my hoodie and hopefully it generally does not upset anyone.