Sagging is a manner of wearing trousers (slacks, shorts, pants or jeans) which sag so that the top is significantly below the waist, sometimes revealing much of the underwear. Sagging is predominantly a male fashion. Women’s wearing of low-rise jeans to reveal their G-string underwear (the “whale tail”) is not generally described as sagging. A person wearing sagging trousers is sometimes called a sagger.
In some countries this practice is known as “low-riding”. It has become popular since the popularity of wearing brightly colored and patterned “boxer” underwear[citation needed] or, in rare occasions, briefs.
According to Greg Mathis, sagging was adopted from the United States prison system where belts are sometimes prohibited to prevent prisoners from using them as weapons or committing suicide by hanging themselves. The style was later popularized by hip-hop artists in the 1990s. It later became a symbol of freedom and cultural awareness among some youths or a symbol of their rejection of the values of mainstream society.
