How Clothes Influence Society

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/pajamas-in-public-should-they-be-banned/2012/01/18/gIQAtmVE8P_blog.html

"If one Louisiana parish commissioner has his way, comfort-lovers won’t be hanging out in their PJs at the mall. Caddo Parish Commissioner Michael Williams has proposed a ban on wearing pajamas — especially the pants -- in public after he was appalled by the attire of his constitutents during a recent shopping trip, according to KTAL/NBC.
Don’t wear these outside your home in Caddo Parish, La. (J. Crew)

“The moral fiber in our community is dwindling,” Williams said. “If not now, when? Because its pajama pants today, next it will be underwear tomorrow.”'

Crazy? I think so. 

Here's one thing I think people excessively and in this case, harshly judge people, pajamas, and overall, the way people dress. I'm from New York City, and everyday people dress like they are going to a fashion show. Coming to Penn State is a nice change because I don't feel like I'm being ridiculed in the eyes of other people if I walk around wearing a hoodie and sweatpants and a pair of sneakers, instead of back home where I would wake up really early, do my hair to perfection, put on a blazer, jeans, and army boots and some jewelry and makeup. Here and there, I'm still the same person; it's just the fact that I look and dress differently. 

Judging someone for wearing pajamas is like basing your whole perception of the person on the time they woke up that day. Say someone woke up at 8:30 AM and someone else woke up at 3PM that day. People would automatically assume that the person who woke up early is more ambitious, hardworking, and more vibrant of a person, while the other is lazy and probably doesn't do that much work. See, what if that person who woke up in the afternoon pulled an all nighter doing a bunch of homework because they have six classes and papers and tests and their sleep cycle simply shifted. They still only get around 8 or 9 hours of sleep, they just sleep at different times. Yet, no one seems to consider ideas like that, even though they're most often very plausible. No, people insist on judging others for what they do and wear. Why do we wear pajamas? For comfort. Why are they inside our homes or dorms, but walking outside with them is considered so heinous that there would be a law considering banning them from the public (but let's remember...it is Louisiana). Why do we have to put up a front for the public when at home it's perfectly acceptable to be comfortable. We're the same people outside or inside our own homes. Society just makes everyone into this dichotomy of our private vs. public selves. 

That saying 'behind closed doors,' nobody asked for that. We're pressured into not being ourselves to 'outsiders' and that in turn forms a cycle of keeping people 'outsiders'. It's forced upon us, and frankly, it's a little ridiculous.