Sweatpants are a growing trend in college campuses across the country. They’ve always been considered appropriate attire exclusively for bed or lying about. The casual nature of the warm, safe, loose-fitting comfort garment has sparked a debate of the appropriateness and possible detriment to students who choose to wear them to class.
The main dispute in the sweatpants pandemic is whether they have a place in the world of higher academia, a setting that is supposed to groom us into professionals. While there is a time and place for everything, college may be the grey area between a professional atmosphere and unprofessional attire.
But sweatpants are totally and completely OK to wear whenever a college student wants, this includes class. The relationship one has with their sweats is a real one. It’s scientifically proven that stress levels significantly subside the moment a person pulls them on; and after
all, let’s be honest, who is more stressed then a college student? Any sigh of relief we can get,
we take.
Besides the stress relief, sweatpants also give you pockets, an advantage that most women’s clothing does not offer. My favorite pair of jeans has stitching along my hip to suggest room for a phone, but it is a bald-faced lie: there is no capacity to hold more than a fuzz of lint. The fashion industry long ago decided that pockets on women’s clothing are unflattering and unfeminine. Extra fabric around your thighs? It would ruin your figure, sweetie pie! I am supposed to care more about my status as a woman than my iPhone accessibility.
My sweatpants are gently gender-neutral and — unlike my jeans, dresses, leggings and skirts — have gloriously large pockets. They are wildly extravagant in their use of fabric. I can fit an entire coffee mug inside them if I wanted to.
When wearing sweatpants I feel freedom — the beautiful freedom of leaving the house with nothing in my hands, no purse strap chaining me to the patriarchy. My phone in one pocket, wallet and keys in another, I can speed-walk without my purse bumping against my thigh or hitching my left shoulder so the strap won’t fall off.
The days that I wear sweatpants are often days I need or desire this freedom of mobility. So if you think I look like I’m not trying or don’t care, I can only say that I put more thought into my choice of pants than the guy wearing a blacksuit-blue-tie combo around campus. That said,sometimes I wake up in the morning and decide,“Wow! I feel like not trying. I don’t care.” And, on those days I wear my sweatpants, too.
But, no matter what I am wearing, I expect to be listened to in class. After all, I listen to country music despite the cowboy hats and plaid shirts. I simply ask for the same courtesy.
An article in College Fashion pointed out that sweats are strictly for “hanging around the dorm or apartment and not to be worn to class” In fact, the article states it’s only acceptable to wear sweatpants if you’ve been up all night studying for a final and plan to go back to sleep after you take it. Really now? I demand to be taken seriously, regardless of the clothes I wear or the clothes I can afford.I demand to be taken seriously because I am a human, and if my sweatpants affect how you treat me, I do not think the problem is on my end.
To every NSU student who has worn their sweats to class as a celebration of their magnificent pockets or because of their outstanding level of comfort or because they woke up and just didn’t care: onward, my friends. We shall wait patiently for the day that all clothing decisions are equally respected, but, until then, stay strong. You are not alone.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of pinterest.com
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