California State Prof Lashes Out at Expensive Sweatpants Appropriating Black Culture
“Balenciaga men’s Trompe-L’Oeil sweatpants in red triggers immediate concern given the grotesque similarity to the iconic African American hip hop aesthetic worn by Black Americans for decades that has resulted in the imprisonment and death of Black men.”
California State University-Northridge Professor Marquita Gammage, who teaches Africana Studies, lashed out at the new Balenciaga because the new $1,190 appropriates black culture:
Balenciaga’s very pricey sweatpant/boxer combo — $1,190 retail — is just that: It features what look like boxers “peeking out from the [sweats’] waistband,” according to CNN Style. It’s a popular look, particularly among young black men.
However, controversy arose after a TikTok user posted a video about the pants, saying “This feels racist […] They’ve woven the boxers inside the trouser.”
Africana Studies Professor Marquita Gammage told CNN she also was “disturbed” by the pants, claiming they represent an “exploitation of Black culture with the hopes of securing major profits.”
While sagging pants — which often involve jeans or sweatpants lowered past the waist, with boxer underwear exposed at the top of the waistline — have been popularized in hip hop culture, the style has also “been used to criminalize Blacks, especially Black males as thugs and a threat to American society,” Gammage said.
“Balenciaga men’s Trompe-L’Oeil sweatpants in red triggers immediate concern given the grotesque similarity to the iconic African American hip hop aesthetic worn by Black Americans for decades that has resulted in the imprisonment and death of Black men,” Gammage told CNN over email. “The trousers have commercial cultural appropriation written all over them; branded with the name Balenciaga.”
Black men being discriminated against and devalued for sagging pants and Balenciaga is profiting off the style. Crazy how it’s ghetto until they put a price on it pic.twitter.com/ujjFkHfYnt
— HighestPriestess🧖🏾♀️💫🌻 (@loveKase24) September 7, 2021
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Comments
No. Murder, rape, and theft led to the imprisonment. The pants just make it easier to find the perp in the crowd.
I just love how someone displays a symbol to get an effect, and then complains when the do get the effect. Runs the gammut from the proverbial tramp stamp to pants around the knees.
They are exceptionally ugly pants. Without the designer label they could be found for 5 to 7 dollars in your basic Walmart. Less if you went to Goodwill.
$1,2o0 for sweatpants?
That is the real crime.
No one forced to buy them any more then someone is forced to buy a Rolex to tell the time of day.
It’s racist when whites use the style to decide who to arrest.
It’s racist when whites adopt the style so that’s no longer possible.
See? Everything is racist.
Racism is a new fundamental particle that can be detected in all matter, if only you look hard enough.
IF you wear sweatpants, they should be gray or one of your school’s color. If you are going anywhere other than gym, pool, or track, you should not be wearing sweat pants.
An Africana Studies professor. I’m so not surprised.
Pierced ear hangers are also cultural appropriation, on the part of blacks. If blacks want to wear hoop earrings as their cultural heritage, let them do it the authentic way — inside the earlobe (gauges).
You mean those awful lobe rings I see worn by trendy white men?
The origins of the baggy pants have nothing to do with black culture. It started as a prison thing decades ago…
The guy with the sagging rear pants was indicating to other prisoners they were open to and looking for being the recepient of a certain type of sexual activity.
Isn’t it racist to set such a low expectation on blacks? That they all dress trashy and look like hoodlums?
No more than it is racist for whites to wear business suits in an attempt to pass themselves off as valuable members of the business world. As a retiree, I wear shorts/sweats and a T- shirt-every day. After all, fleece is the Oregon state fabric. I dress for comfort and function. I don’t wear more standard clothing because I don’t need to project an image, and 99% of the gangsta dress out there is someone trying to project an image, much as do the overweight guys in a track suit. On your way to the gym? Sure. Watch the Sopranos. Tony is either in a track suit or dressed to the T, depending on the image he is trying to project at the moment. And how many guys bought a Suburban because Tony drove one on TV? Probably the same number as those who bought their S&W 29 after Dirty Harry. The putz who wrote the article thinks he is on to something, but it is just v 3256.0 of what has been going on forever. The only difference is that now it is someone mocking his people, loudly.
In my neighborhood, many of the homeless try to project an image by wearing some sort of large knife on their hip, which is good because it makes target (and weapon) selection easier.
How can it be racist when a conservative male wouldn’t be caught dead wearing those?
“Cultural appropriation”? Okay, Perfesserette…STOP EATING tacos, Chinese food, French food, spaghetti, etc. Stick to African wild game.
I can’t wait to go out and get me a pair of those cool “pants falling down” sweats. Then I will look cool.
On second thought, maybe I will just look like the village idiot.
Heh. Just saved myself $1200.
In any case, this article makes me sad. I graduated from CSUN. But it’s been a while and I suspect things have changed. I sure hope there aren’t too many ass-wipes populating the teaching staff at my alma mater now.