I’m not dangerous just because I wear a hoody

"Don't judge me on my jumper"

Aarti

Aarti, 16, is about to start her A-Levels. Her dream life would involve writing, listening to music and caring for her future St. Bernard named Bernard.

I have paid good money for well-designed clothes and now society won’t let me wear them in the way they were designed because others are afraid? I don’t want to wear my hoody for everyone else out there; I want to wear it for me! Still, we haven’t descended into total anarchy yet – that will come when it is no longer socially acceptable to wear bobble hats or other such warming comforts.

An interesting idea just came to me: does this mean that children should no longer be told the story of Little Red Riding Hood? It was an important tale in my upbringing and I will gladly use it in the defence of hoodies everywhere. The little girl wearing the hood was goodhearted! She gave up her time to help the elderly! Perhaps that is beside the point, but it does raise the issue that hoods have been around for a while, but have only recently been associated with danger.

Enough stereotypes have crumbled for people to realise they aren’t the whole truth. So why do so many people refuse to drop the idea that us hoody-loving folk are bad mannered, unsocial, havoc-wreaking disasters? What if I smile with my hoody on? Would that help? Or would my smile somehow morph into something more unnerving and suspicious?

What is it that makes others fear the hood anyway? Clothes seem pretty harmless to me. I thought that maybe it was the face-in-the-shadow effect that scares people, but no one has a problem with people standing under large trees and other shaded areas. So I began thinking, is it just because hoods prevent you from seeing people’s facial expressions? But even that seems slightly ridiculous, because then surely huge sunglasses shouldn’t be acceptable either! So I’ve come to the conclusion there is no logical reason for hoodies to be frowned upon.

People point out that I can wear my hoody without using the hood, but then I may as well have bought a jumper! I don’t just put it up because I feel like it; I generally do it to protect myself from the rain. So why the confused faces and wary eyes when I raise my hand to touch my hood? I’ve no desire to hurt anyone. Really, is it so bad for me to want to keep warm and dry?

My school even offers hoodies for ski trips and Leavers’ Day and other such valuable moments in a pupil’s life and then decides to turn around and go: “No, of course you can’t wear hoodies in school – take it off!” Beside that being an impossibly silly thing to do, I want to know why it’s only fully grown, mature adults who sense this danger? Because if hoodies really are that bad, shouldn’t everyone notice it immediately? Let’s look at the facts – it’s a piece of cloth.

I won’t promise to stop wearing any one of my hoodies. But for the sake of keeping the peace (notice it’s always the young people who have to give in) I will try to appear more friendly and open when I do so. So I’ll wear a hoody with pink flowers on.