By David Futrelle
A quick question for all of you.
When you see a woman wearing artfully distressed jeans with holes in them, what’s the first thing that pops into your head?
- “Those are cute. I wonder where she got them?”
- “It’s weird how long ripped jeans have managed to stay in fashion.”
- “I hope her knees aren’t cold!”
- Something horrible about rape.
This dude posting on the Men Going Their Own way subreddit not only chose #4; he also, for some reason, felt obliged to share his reaction with his fellow MGTOWs.
![jerseymayan 11 points 1 month ago Whenever I see women wear ripped up clothes like that, I assume she has a rape fantasy. From her subconcious, it's not only about showing skin but having a Man rip her clothes off to get her "off." permalinkembedunsavereportgive goldreply [–]GemStarCN21 8 points 1 month ago Excellent analysis, I never thought of it like that.](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/fant-e1521406587476.png?resize=580%2C388&ssl=1)
To be fair, it’s not clear to me if Mr. Jerseymayan thinks that ripped-clothes-wearing women actually want to be raped, for real, or if they simply fantasize about it, as many people of assorted genders do. What does seem certain to me is if your first reaction to seeing a woman with holes in her pants is to think about her being raped, there is something very wrong with you.
… I always think “She must have a cat too.”
I am overwhelmingly unlikely to notice if someone is wearing ripped jeans, unless they are, like, neon coloured or are in such a state that the jeans look like they lost a fight with a wood chipper. Unless clothing is somehow very distinctive, I almost never pay attention to it.
Heh, definitely #2.
I remember my cousins wearing them in the 80ies.
I wore them in the 90ies.
A few weeks ago, while I was freezing solid waiting for the train in -14C weather, I wondered if the people wearing ripped jeans would get frost bite…
My first thought is usually “I’m glad ripped jeans are still socially acceptable because I am too lazy/uncaring to buy new jeans”.
I’m always slightly disappointed that my jeans don’t wear and test in fashionable ways… they usually fail at the top of the inside thigh, or once along the curve of one bum cheek like they’d suddenly decided to become denim hot pants.
What do you have to do to get all those photogenic tears down the front and around the knees? Lots of commando crawling? Partially clad doggy style?
I don’t like that look. I’ve worn torn jeans myself when I was a tween in the 1980:s, but nowadays it just seems stupid to me to make holes in a previously whole and functional garment. When you make the holes at, like, the front of the thigh, it’s so obvious they’re artificial, because jeans don’t spontaneously tear in THAT place. They’ll tear apart, depending on your body shape and what you do while you wear them, at the butt, inside of the thighs or at your knees.
But to each their own and if someone else loves that look, you go wear them.
Also, if this style expresses a rape fantasy, clearly it must be the fantasy of being raped by someone with super strength. Seriously, even if you’re strong by ordinary standards, taking a pair of whole jeans and just tear at them until they’re torn apart is NOT easy.
@Dvärghundspossen:
Tearing fabric is pretty difficult most of the time. Aside from extremely thin or worn fabrics.
Most fabrics you won’t be able to tear at all unless you make a small cut at the edge and tear from there.
And even that won’t work with jeans!
@SFHC: That video is adorable.
I think for me it deppends on the time of the year what I think.
3: I wouldn’t think on a hot summerday but if it in winter the thought has crossed my mind (has crossed my mind for other fashion trends also)
Perhaps in sommer it would be 2 or perhaps right time to wear them.
It adds a whole other level of creepiness to the term “bodice ripper” for romance novel. I’ve never had clothes ripped during/before sex. Not even flimsy stuff like mesh or lace underwear. I’ve never heard a friend talking about that happening either. It kind of makes old fashioned romance novels seem even rapier than they already did.
Re: #3… there’s a private school a couple blocks away from where I live and on occasion, I see the girls wearing their uniform skirts outside in the 10 to 20 below 0 Celsius winter. Plus windchill. I have no idea how they can handle it. O.o
I knew this girl when I was 20 who had this fantasy of having her clothes literally torn off her. She and her boyfriend tried to enact it, like with old clothes I guess that she didn’t mind wasting, but it was hard, as Knitting Cat Lady points out above. She was like “take a pair of scissors and cut them off then!”. Unfortunately, since both were drunk as well, he accidentally stabbed her in the thigh when he tried to. It wasn’t deep or serious or anything, but still.
2. Definitely 2. I often wonder if they’ve gone out of style and come back in style and I just missed it.
I got some “Bourbon barrel aged” coffee from Trader Joe’s. It’s like drinking Irish coffee first thing in the morning. Weird. I think it would be nice with some butterscotch syrup and half and half as a dessert coffee, but I generally drink my coffee black, so it’s like someone dumped their shot of bourbon in my coffee.
Wonder what they’d make of the decorative slashes on some historical garments?
My daughter invoked #1 last week. 😀 Of course, she works at a consignment store so I know darned well where she got them. 😀
Yeah, my jeans always tear on the inner thighs. 😛
My jeans always tear first at the bottom of the front pockets. Mostly on the left hand side, since that’s where I have my cell phone there and it usually falls into the same spot there. I am only now realising that this can only mean that I secretly want my phone to be stolen. That’s how this works now, right?
I remember being a child in the nineties and desperately wanting to have ripped jeans, but also wanting to desperately avoid any clothing-related discussions with my mom, so it was easier to just pick on all the natural holes and tears and pretend to have done nothing.
Masse_Hysteria: Yeah my trousers tend to wear out wear I put my keys in my pocket, so I probably want someone to break into my house.
Increasingly as I age it’s “Oh dear, you look cold. Can I knit you something warmer?”
With my jeans it’s more worrying that when I kneel down to weed the allotment the whole leg comes off.
Philosophical question: if a woman wears anything and no MGTOW-dude sees it, is it still “a sign she wants to be raped”?
I had to take my car back to the shop today. And then tripped and skinned my knee walking home 🙁
This is how you get ripped jeans!
@ bluecat, yeah about chores too –
Like you’re going to put on a ball gown and heels to work in your garden. Or take out the trash, rake leaves, take an exercise walk, many things that call for comfortable or appropriate clothing.
Do you see truck drivers wearing tuxedos?
There’s a trucking firm here called Eddie Stobart; and all the drivers wear ties which I quite like. Also, all the lorries have names; which usually leads to me swerving all over the motorway as I try to read what a particular one is called.
If you have issues with wearing holes in the inner thighs of your pants you can reinforce them with iron on patches like these
I still love distressed jeans. And I have friends who think it doesn’t make sense to buy them; just wait until your jeans tear on their own! Well, I’m in the same boat as those of you whose jeans tear under their butt cheek or the inner thigh before they tear anywhere aesthetically pleasing.
Even when the knees rip from wiping out on my longboard it’s a little below the actual knee when I’m standing upright (my knee is bent when it hits the pavement, which puts extra pressure on the pant leg and pulls it up). So normal wear and tear, even when it happens on the knees, doesn’t have the aesthetic look I’m going for.
Now I favor the frayed look over an actual tear, because I’ve shredded a few pairs of jeans by getting my foot stuck in that hole in the knee as a pull them on. I am neither graceful nor patient : P
First thing that pops in my head:
1. Why would you pay good money for clothes that are already ripped?
2. Gah, I guess I’m old now.
Whenever I see a guy wearing a football jersey, I naturally assume he’s fantasizing about being slammed to the ground by several 300-pound linebackers. Why else would he wear it?
When I see a guy with a mustard stain on his shirt, he’s signaling that he wants to be pushed into a huge vat of Dijon.