Those partial to low-slung jean are no longer welcome in Delcambre, a Louisiana shrimping town west of New Orleans and the latest place to try to criminalize an old standard of hip-hop fashion. For exposing their underwear as they waddle around town, they could face six months in jail and a $500 fine.

Previous attempts at pull-up-yer-pants legislation around the nation, including statewide bans in Louisiana and Virginia and local ones in Orlando and Dallas, have been limited to much lower fines. Here’s the ordinance, as posted in the local Daily Iberian:

It shall be unlawful for any person in any public place or in view of the public to be found in a state of nudity, or partial nudity, or in dress not becoming to his or her sex, or in any indecent exposure of his or her person or undergarments, or be guilty of any indecent or lewd behavior.

About 12 people in the town of 2,168 people objected before the vote, “arguing it was racially motivated and indistinguishable from the state obscenity law,” the newspaper said. Mayor Carol Broussard assured them: “I have nothing against the black man.”

One resident hinted that the law was too focused on nudity. “It’s not like I’m showing my privates or anything like that,” he said: It’s cool to show your boxers, but anything more would obviously be a huge embarrassment.

A student newspaper at Lousiania State University wrote an editorial on the measure, but there was no need to read the words to find out where they stood; a video covering the “LSU Undie Run” was prominently displayed next to the article on the paper’s Web site.

Enforcement appears to include a Stasi-like willingness to make arrests based solely on complaints, as long as witnesses swear they aren’t lying, the newspaper said.

A Boston Globe article in February asked the fashionistas themselves. In short, it’s all about self-expression and comfort.

“It makes me who I am,” said 19-year-old Jermaine Hernandez of Peabody, who wears his jeans so low sometimes they show off almost all of his boxers. “I try to be my own self and not copy anyone.” For William Segal, it just feels better. “It’s not comfortable when they’re up here,” said the 16-year-old from Lynn as he pulled his jeans to his waist. He returned them to their usual position, rested below the hips, and exposing about 3 inches of boxer. “It’s a lot more comfortable down here.”

The article also raised the possibility that the controversy is “nothing more than the traditional clash of generations.”

“We do become, to some extent, fuddy-duddies,” Robert Thompson, the often-quoted Syracuse professor, told The Globe. “And we have no problem applying double standards.”