A disturbing Trend of young Londoners displaying scant regard for hygiene as they meander around town with their hands firmly tucked inside their underwears!
Taking a stroll through various parts of this vibrant city of London I couldn’t help but to notice a troubling sight. This first came to my attention almost two years ago.
Being naturally observant, I began to realise that there was a new ‘stance’, a very bad one, among the younger generation in the city. In the 1980s there was the b-boy stance; from the US, which was very cool. In the 1990s when Hip-hop ruled-and still does- the airwaves it became mandatory that Rappers grab hold of their ‘Tool’ as many times as possible during a performance. There was a barrage of disquiet about that. To allay these concerns, rather than to grab themselves inappropriately Rappers began to place their ‘mic-free’ hand on their lap while performing.
What is happening now beggars belief; youngsters are walking around town with –sometimes- both their hands thrust inside their pants! It is quite a common site in London. Occasionally I can’t help myself but to gesture at them, and if they could lip-read it would be clear that what I’m saying is ‘what the hell are you doing’?!
It is such an annoying thing to come across, presumably, done in the name of fashion/style/swagger. For the pre-teens I would cut them some slack, they are just little kids, but for those in their late teens and early twenties there is no excuse for this transgression.
In the urban scene we in the UK-like most of the world-tend to look across the pond to see what is happening on the US side of things. I remember when athletes and other African American celebrities started wearing tattoos and body piercing it was replicated in this country by black people, and yet hitherto these trends were associated with white heavy-metal rockers, Punks and Skinheads. What I am trying to uncover is where did the UK youngsters get this silliness from? If they are doing it for the ladies then we need the girls to speak out against it.
One such girl is Catia; and this is what she had to say about it:
Living in London has many advantages; such as multi-cultural communities and diversity in take outs; yes I love to eat, even though I look like a super-model who starves herself deliberately, to maintain the industry look. Girls should never starve themselves for anything or anyone.
The streets are so alive with lots of attractions and distractions; once you step out of your cribs you wonder where the time went.
However, with its benefits come the disadvantages, the so called gangsters that hang around street corners with hooded jumpers and track-suit bottoms hanging as lows as to their knees. In general, [they] usually mischievously glance at those who cross their paths and would not hesitate to start trouble at every opportunity that presents itself. Unfortunately, that is not enough for them; every time you see a pack of “hood-rats” (as we call them here in London) at least 50% of them have their hands down (inside), their pants. I believe this became a trend because there seems to be an association between having the hands in front of their underwear and looking deviant. I believe this trend to be plainly idiotic because it does not make them look “gangster” but instead you get the impression some of them may have contracted an STI,(Sexually Transmitted Infection) and as a result have an itchy situation that is bothering them down there. It’s an absurd and an incredibly unhygienic way to conduct oneself. I am now reluctant to ‘high-five’ a lot of young guys knowing where they rest their hands for most part of the day.
As a female, I believe this act of disrespect and poor hygiene to be unnecessary and if I only but glanced at my male partner and I saw that he is trying to do the same thing, I would walk pass him and pretend that I don’t know him. It is uncomfortable to see some grown men embarrassing themselves like that. This is a clear evidence of women maturing before men. You wouldn’t see women doing that on the streets so why do men do it? In my opinion it starts at socialisation and if parents tell their children from a young age that hygiene is important and that they should be themselves and not pretend to be a “bad boy” because of peer pressure then it would be easier on us women when trying to find a decent partner, as we wouldn’t have to witness such things. It’s bad enough to see men urinating on street corners; now we also have to be subjected to seeing them putting their hands out of site and looking at women while biting their lips and whistling as if we are pieces of meat just for them to feast on.
I believe that positive role models in the media would also do well to speak out against this disgraceful immature act. Hopefully this trend like other negative ones would be over soon.
