Nation's moral guardians snap over 'shag bands'

Now I know I'm old.

At our school we played 'tig' and that was the closest I came to touching a girl for the first 15 years of my life. Seems 'tig' has gone XXX.

Paris because you don't need a band with her, just a crapload of cash (not that I'm suggesting she's an expensive prostitute or anything).

Nothing new

This is nothing new, it was happening when I was at school during the '90s. No one ever followed through with any of it, though.

<Witty Title>

I saw something about this in my local paper too - these wristbands have actually be branded as "evil". How can plastic be evil (unless it's Chucky)?

If only this craze would catch on amongst certain adult females I regularly see on my journey to and from work... Picture it, a crowded tube train, an attractive blonde, a snapped black band.....

AC, in case the girlfriend happens across this page, and questions me on my morality....

Sun reporting = misreading snopes.com

Paris, obviously.

What a load of nonsense

As a 23 year old who broke a girl's black shag band when I was 16 I can report that there is nothing new about this kind of behaviour!

It were never like this when I were a lad.

More's the pity. ;)

Ahhhh

Won't somebody please think of the children!!!!!

First I've heard

Kids at the local school here are far too busy sacrificing goats and selling their souls to satan...

had to give him oral and he gave me a lickout!

aaaw! from the mouths of babes

Must make her mothers bossom just swell with pride!

welcome

To 1980.

sounds a bit like the myth...

of Pharm Parties from the US. Where a bunch of people bring all their drugs to a party and dump them into a bowl and then the attendants play lucky dip with the bowl of pills. ie a load of old scaremongering nonsense that no one has any real evidence of existing.

FAIL

1 = find a behaviour that has supposed to have existed for years

2 = suggest it's a new craze

3 = moral outrage

4 = profit from more paper sales.

Seriously, I remember when the bands round my arms were called shag bands and that was loooong ago. I actually had a wristfull of black ones. Unfortunatly, I ended up snapping a few of them by fidgiting and playing with them. t'was nothing to do but entertain myself :-)

Instruction manual

This is another example of moral-outrage eating itself.

My 7-year old daughter has an arm full of them. Bought them from the local shop. As have all her friends. They just like them because they are "colourful fashion bracelets".

Then along come some website, The Sun, and MPs, and tell kids "no! they are not fashion! they are sex-toys. Here, if you go to www.whatever.com, you can read the rules and find out how to do it! Which, of course, you shouldn't! Outrageous!"

If everyone had kept schum, then they would continue to be... harmless colourful bracelets. It's the GROWNUPS (so-called) that are turning them into something more.

Urban Myth?

The bands thing is a myth that's been going on for years according to a book a recently read.

Hippo Eats Dwarf by Alex Boese mentions it being a long standing story that repeatedly crops up from time to time in the media.

No , wait , dragging up a 5 year old story

So , either the Sun doesnt read anything across the pond , where the "Moral Majority" had a little media frenzy of their own about this back when wearing livestrong bands became popular, or this was a really , really slow news day, and the reporter tried to make something interesting out of a niece of nephew coming to visit and telling him how things were going at school.

The ultimate non-story. Queue outrage ,and a Daily Mail campaign.

What, they still have these?

They had these when I was at school.

A decade ago.

Tired old crap

This colour-coded jewellery for sexual favours thing is nonsense. It comes up about once every two years when some newspaper has nothing better to say.

They've been touting this nonsense on and off about these plastic arm-bands for almost a decade now. Before that it was "friendship bracelets" which I'm sure anyone of my generation (born late 70s) will remember the girls making from bits of coloured string and giving out.

There was never anything to it then (more's the pity IMHO...) and there's nothing to it now. The fact that an MP has fallen for it speaks volumes.

Why is the reg reporting this ridiculous old hype?

Stand back... moral panic in progress

Nice to see the combined headless chickens of the tabloid press and politicians off on a new threat to the kiddies that has only ever been heard about from some anonymous sources on the internet that, because they are on the 'tubes, simply *have* to be true.

If they want some more ideas then Cracked (http://www.cracked.com/article_17040_6-most-insane-moral-panics-in-american-history.html) has a few more they can borrow (Rainbow Parties come in at #5 on that list and I believe #1 has already been dealt with in depth).

Still?

They were around when I was at school 10 years ago, but despite snapping as many as possible nothing happened...

What colour is the band

For go do your homework?

Or go play football

Or go to bed!

Or that's not music! That's just noise.

When I was young you would get called a sissy for playing with girls!

And as for boys wearing braclets? Well it just wouldn't have happened.

I wish these would catch on in my office.

And I think a rainbow party would make a great team building event for our next quarterly meeting, too.

Seriously?

People believe this? Are their incredulity glands not working or something?

Having your cake and eating it

Anybody remember Brass Eye ?

I call Bulls***

25 fives years too late

Where were these when I were a lad!!

What colour did Roman Polanski get?

I wonder if he'll be using that in his defence.

So let me get this straight

A member of parliament for Wakefield is advocating a ban on selling plastic bracelets for kids?

Am i missing something?

BS

much like dogging some time back - 'news' leads the behaviour of the sheep.

Damn that internet and the porn fuelled blameless society it has created....

Sweeping the UK's playgrounds?

If so it must be sweeping at roughly the same rate as continental drift. Girls had shag bands when I was in year 8 at school, no less than 13 years ago - and I dare say some while before that.

My girlfriend who was in the year below me at school in another part of the country confirms that they had them too. I find this kind of hysteria all very chortlesome.

Old old story

I'm now 28 and this was the case at schools in Oakham back in my day. Which makes this story at least 14 years old.. probably older

What's the suns next breaking story, kids are chasing each other and if they catch the other they have to kiss...

Oh dear, not this again...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_party_%28sexuality%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gel_bracelet

'nuffsed.

Welcome to the 80's

This is nothing new and nothing harmless. I remember this about 20 years ago when I was in school. It's not a binding contract!

How times have changed

I used to wear them when I was a teenager [16+ yrs]. The way the bands were used was that when a female kissed a boy she would give the guy a bracelet/band. The number of bands a guy wore indicated how much he scored. It meant that a male had to ask if he could have a band/snog and the girl could refuse. The Bands did not have any other meaning. Breaking the bands does not make sense as you would not have as many trophies to wear casually.

discussed on radio 4.....

.....at some length last week = hoax.

More media stupidity.

El Reg - c'mon, buck up. You should know better.

LOL

want to become moral guardians - simply ban the sun?? given the way the media control the UK government, I'm sure there will be a law passed on this shortly

@ Lloyd - Re: Ahhhh

"Won't somebody please think of the children!!!!!"

That'll definitely get you arrested!!

Oprah, Oprah, Oprah

This or some variant was brought up on Oprah about 5 years ago. Does yellow mean you have to give Lance Armstrong a reach around?

One of the many moral panics that springs up from time to time. Still, jolly good fun to be able to reminisce about the phrase "lickout"...