What's Up With All the Visible Butt Cracks?


I don't normally think of myself as being prudish. Nudity doesn't bother me--I've taken enough life drawing classes and been to enough clothing-optional beaches in Greece not be disturbed by wobbly bits on display.

But lately I have seen more than enough butt cracks emerging from the tops of jeans, shorts etc. So I have to ask the question: Who decided this was acceptable?

Tonight Tord and I were having dinner at Primo Ciao Ciao on Odengatan when a young woman sitting diagonally across from us bent forward to sample her date's food. What did she treat us to? Her posterial divide on display.

Yesterday, I was in Kronobergspark with Sara. Another set of posterial divides on display--one of which was nearly the entire posterior on display her jeans were so low-slung.

Maybe it's a sign of age that this is getting on my nerves. I mean, I still don't understand why fashions from the 70s and 80s are making comebacks when it seemed that it was universally decided that these were fashion mistakes never to be repeated again.

But if I have to decide between jeans so low-slung that I'd need a Brazilian wax just to go out in them and those hideous high-waisted jeans that make me look like my mom still dresses me, then I choose those fugly high-waisted jeans.

You see, I just don't think that certain body parts should be on display in certain situations. Regardless of whether I am sitting in an outdoor bar or cafe, I think men should wear shirts. I do not want to be presented with their hairy/scrawny/pot-bellied/sweaty etc torsos when I am eating or enjoying a glass of wine. Just as I would prefer not to have anyone's (male or female) butt crack in my line of vision when I am having dinner. Surely there must be an entry in Emily Post's book of etiquette on proper occasions to display the posterial divide (and I am fairly certain she'd advise against displaying it and its companions--the cups-running-over blouse and the skirt-that-leaves-nothing-to-the-imagination--in restaurants and classrooms and probably even museums).

But Stockholmers are intent on wearing low-waisted jeans and showing off their butts, especially since it is summer (even if it is damp and cold and not very summer-like today). And I have at least eight more weeks of being subjected to butt cracks and thongs on display.

Good thing I have plenty of good books to read...