It started as a sneaking suspicion. Then the floodgates opened and it turned into a fully fledged bird - I mean hypothesis. The hypothesis is based on a metal solid foundation of reasonable premises and valid deductions.
1. Many people tuck in their shirt (or analogous upper body garment).
2. The majority of these people strive to maintain the tuck for as long as the shirt is worn.
3. When faced with activities that lead to untucking there are two choices: a) do the activity and then re-tuck (e.g. reaching up to the top shelf to grab something), or b) avoid the activity altogether (e.g. vigorous exercise).
4. Sitting and standing upright - in other words good posture - can often lead to untucking.
5. Good posture is therefore to be avoided. This needn't be a conscious decision, perhaps just a subtle shifting of the body's movement preferences towards stable, reassuring tuck maintenance.
Note that a premise for many is that good posture is to be maintained for as long as - nay longer than - any shirt is worn. This conflict could be tearing our backs, and society apart.
Now, I'm not the kind of person to come to you with a problem and not a solution. I propose longer and hence more untuck-resistant shirts in the short term (although this doesn't address the related issue of shirt overhang at the waist area), and greater societal tolerance of no-tucks in the long term.
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I agree that the shirt tuck is an issue that has been swept under the carpet. However, there are of course other reasons for the practice of poor posture. I draw your attention to the "between-button-spread", the oft ignored phenomenon of the oening of space between the penultimate and ultimate buttons when inappropriate postures are adopted. It can also occur when the bottom button is situated too far above the pant line. Luckily, i feel the solution for this is the same as the solution for the tuck. Shirts that reach past the bum and incorporate buttons that reach the lowest part of the shirt. There is a need for a fashion revolution founded in the practicality of a good tuck.
Man, you said what I've been thinking for years: "Mendelev!". I mean, that shirts and tucking are all very incompatible. The other issue is the ironing of shirts. Why iron something that naturally crinkles? - cw
Of course, you realise that writing a witty dissertation on this subject makes you appear to be a tuckwit...
As with most things, when looking at them at a certain point in time (eg now)they can appear absurd.
It is always necessary to understand the historical context of how these things developed.
Maybe it goes back to the onset of the industrial revolution. Maybe untucked garments made workers more susceptible to being sucked into machines they were were working near! Maybe tucking also diminished heat loss in cold weather? Did cowboys tuck in summer? (easier to draw their pistols?)
But nowadays...why isn't velcro more widely utilised? Why is the the button industry so powerful? Why isn't ironing illegal?
To answer such questions, some serious research is needed.
ps those who indulge in flippant derision of hypotheses questioning aspects of our fashion oppression may be ther real tuckwits!!!
Tearing our backs apart....you crack me up, man. That's gold. - cw
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