Don't Be A Butt Head

It seems like yesterday (to me anyway) that revealing one’s butt crack was not in good taste. In fact, those who suffered the “butt” of many jokes were plumbers or refrigerator repairmen. I can remember a skit done on Saturday Night Live in which Todd and Lisa (Bill Murray and Gilda Radner) are watching the refrigerator repairmen whose butt crack is highly visible:

Norge Repairman: Yeah. Where's the.. [ spots the Norge ] What a beauty! An old Norge, you don't see many of these things anymore.

Lisa Loopner: No, not too often..

[ the Norge repairman bends down, revealing a crack in his butt, as Todd and Lisa make a few cracks of their own ]

Lisa Loopner: Hey, Todd! You think we should offer him some miniature mashmallows!

Todd: No, I think maybe he might like the big ones!

Lisa Loopner: It's too bad you're not studying overdeveloped nations!

Todd: I think maybe I'll switch to Math.. and go into long division!

Norge Repairman: You know.. when I was a kid, homework wasn't so much fun. [ returns to his work ]

Lisa Loopner: Oh, we're just laughing at something funny that happened on the way home from.. [ laughing ] ..school!

Todd: Yeah! The moon came out surprisingly early!

Lisa Loopner: Oh, Todd.. no wisecracks!

However, while this was funny back then, it might lose its joke appeal today, because the butt crack has become very much a fashion statement, especially among our youth. Girl’s bottoms, intentionally or not, have become the focal point of fashion and pop culture alike. The butt crack is the new cleavage, reclaimed to peek seductively from the pants of supermodels and commoners alike. Adding a tattoo on the lower back, or displaying a pretty thong, provides intentional invitations to stare at their derrieres.

The increase in the decrease of the waist band on most today’s pants also provides a better view of the cheeks. We have become a nation obsessed with having “bootylicious” bodies, so in order to do so, we have to better share our bottoms. It’s almost impossible at times to find a pair of pants that will not reveal at least an inch of one’s crack if pushed to sit down. While I have observed many girls constantly pulling up their pants while trying to bend down, there are far more that seem to revel in showing as much as of their backsides to innocent bystanders.

As a mother, I find it appalling that our youth seem to enjoy sharing more of themselves that they should be sharing. It just isn’t as funny as the refrigerator repairmen. So please put your cracks way. Don’t be a Butt Head...