Today, women gathered in Washington's Dupont Circle for a protest. There weren't typo-ridden signs or rallying cries to pass legislation. Instead, there were just a lot of low-cut shirts.
Jen McCreight came up with the idea for the protest and proposed a tongue-in-cheek experiment to test this claim by Iranian Cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi: "Women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes."
So McCreight encouraged women to join her at "Boobquake" and "embrace the supposed supernatural power of their breasts. ... With the power of our scandalous bodies combined, we should surely produce an earthquake." As of today, Boobquake had over 53,000 fans on Facebook.
But coverage of "Boobquake" hasn't been entirely positive. Gayle Force points out that "given a chance, I do not think [Iranian women] would fight for equality that looks like women wearing revealing clothing so men can get all into it and derail its original purpose. We Western women? Are not exactly totally free, either." Amanda Marcotte commented that the event had "devolved into exactly what you’d imagine, complete with drooling morons acting creepily titillated in a way that makes you wonder if they’ve ever seen a woman naked in the 20-30 years that have passed since they went through puberty."
Not only is it somewhat unsurprising and disturbing to note that men seem to be far more excited about women gathering to wear low-cut shirts than the women themselves, it's a little telling that the D.C. Event seems to be organized by a reporter. That is to say, this stunt has "media circus driven by the opportunity for men to ogle women" written all over it.
Some feminist bloggers have defended the event, though. Frau Sally Benz responds to some of the criticism, saying, "I have read about the 'show me your tits' responses, but I think it’s crap to use that as a reason not to partake in Boobquake. If you’re not comfortable with it, then fine, but don’t slut shame other women for it."
For my part, I find the whole thing somewhat absurd. I'm all for being lighthearted and fun, but I'm with Gayle in that exposing your cleavage to the acclaim of crowds of cheering men in order to protest the horrific conditions women face in Iran is tone-deaf.
No one needs to perform an experiment to prove that exposed decolletage doesn't cause earthquakes. And as much as I support the right of women to wear whatever they want, whenever they want, I'm skeptical that this event advances equality for women living right here in the United States, who are constantly subjected to groping, leering, and street harassment, much less the women of Iran who face much worse.
--Silvana Naguib
