Why do people think Hoodies look dangerous?

[Mr.Marion]

I like wearing hoodies during the cold weather months, but I'm always a liitle leery of putting the hood on because people see a guy with a hood on and they think you're gonna stab them with a screwdriver or something.

Why is that?

How much more likely are you to get shot by the police for wearing a hoodie?

[justzeg18]

Generally I’d assign that response to the idea of “stranger danger” combined -horribly- w/ 80’s media portrayal of street danger and the crack epidemic. (Mind you I lived though all that in the Detroit / Flint area, so my experience might be skewed harder to the extreme.)

Also, the unibomber suspect sketch has probably permanently associated that look with “scary”.

[J.B.]

How much more likely are you to get shot by the police for wearing a hoodie?

No more than if you're wearing a Devo energy dome. How 'bout we leave the police out of this?

[LonnieFisher]

I wear a hoodie all Winter and most of the Fall and some of the Spring. If people fear the hoodie, too bad.

[Mikey]

Back in the 80's and 90's hoodies were popular in young black fashion

That made them dangerous and a sign of criminal activity to Burb and Country whites

Burb and Country folk feel much safer when seeing Varsity/Letterman jackets

BTW, as a fat-guy my go to winter wear is a hoody … You can get ENORMOUS size ones for a relatively cheap price

[ODBJBG]

How much more likely are you to get shot by the police for wearing a hoodie?

Much more likely. And depending on how long you've been in the tanning bed.

Some things go through fads where they're "dangerous" but some things tend to stick around. Hoodies seem to have had this stigma for quite some time. In the 90s if you wore a Starter coat, you were much more likely to be hassled by the police. Of course at the time those coats were super popular, so you know.

I think with hoodies part of the issue is the belief that you're trying to "cover up" and could be "hiding something" which on one level could be true, but is also pretty ridiculous in general. Especially depending on the weather.

But I suppose if it's 95 degrees out and you walk into some place with a hoodie on, especially pulled up, you're going to get at the very least some suspicious eyes.