The event's tag line? "Help fight supernatural thinking and the oppression of women, just by dressing immodestly!"The time and place? Monday, April 26, 12:05am - 11:55pm, everywhere.
And finally, the name: Boobquake.
It may not be the most elegant of titles, but keep in mind, this started out as a joke.
Its creator, Jennifer McCreight, a Purdue University student, writes in her blog that the whole idea was meant to be "a somewhat sarcastic reply to the ludicrous notion that women's immodesty causes earthquakes." However, it has exploded into an unintended phenomenon.
The Facebook event currently has 103,334 confirmed guests, with more than 28,000 who may also attend. Hundreds of comments can be found on both the Facebook event page and on Ms. McCreight's blog, not to mention new tweets on Twitter are popping up every minute for #boobquake.
You might be wondering what this ridiculous title has to do with the oppression of women. Simply read my post from Tuesday of this week. But for a quick update, this movement was spawned when an Iranian cleric, Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, was quoted by Iranian media as saying, "Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes."
You might be able to imagine the reactions of many people upon reading this. They included ranged from shock and profuse head-shaking to...well, a reaction like that of Ms. McCreight's. Her idea is to have all the women of the world (or at least those who use Facebook, Twitter or read blogs) to dress "immodestly" this coming Monday.
As she puts it, "On Monday, April 26th, I will wear the most cleavage-showing shirt I own. Yes, the one usually reserved for a night on the town. I encourage other female skeptics to join me and embrace the supposed supernatural power of their breasts. Or short shorts, if that's your preferred form of immodesty. With the power of our scandalous bodies combined, we should surely produce an earthquake. If not, I'm sure Sedighi can come up with a rational explanation for why the ground didn't rumble. And if we really get through to him, maybe it'll be one involving plate tectonics."
Ms. McCreight's idea has gotten a variety of reactions, ranging from "Awesome!" to "this is anti-feminist." She has responded with a blog post for clarification.
"I don't think the event is completely contrary to feminist ideals. I'm asking women to wear their most 'immodest' outfit that they already would wear, but to coordinate it all on the same day for the sake of the experiment. Heck, just showing an ankle would be considered immodest by some people.
Ms. McCreight continues, "I don't want to force people out of their comfort zones, because I believe women have the right to choose how they want to dress. Please don't pressure women to participate if they don't want to. If men ogle, that's the fault of the men, not me for dressing how I like. If I want to a show a little cleavage or joke about my boobs, that's my prerogative.
"And to the scientists who are concerned with my methods - don't worry, I fully plan on doing some statistics after the event. I know many earthquakes happen on a daily basis, so we're looking to see if Boobquake significantly increases the number or severity of earthquakes. Or if an earthquake strikes West Lafayette, IN and only kills me, that may be good evidence of God's wrath as well (I'm not too concerned)."
Let's just hope this coming Monday remains earthquake-free.
Photo credit: Facebook Event, Boobquake
No comments:
Post a Comment