If Boobquake is your kind of thing, then, by all means, enjoy it. But don’t stop there.

Posted on April 26, 2010 | 17 Comments

It can sometimes be very difficult to predict the potential reactions to and the possible outcomes of any political statement and/or consciousness-raising effort one undertakes, however well-intentioned it is. This is especially true when the statement and/or effort is started online. Today, via Facebook and/or Twitter (among others), anything can “go viral” within minutes and generate a great deal of discussion. In addition, when looking for stories to cover, traditional media outlets often focus their attention on these “viral” topics. It can be hard to anticipate what the outcomes or consequences of this attention and media coverage will be.

Difficult, perhaps. But far from impossible, especially when the effort in question focuses on “boobs.”

Sex sells. We know this. The more we sex up our message, the more attention it will receive. And media outlets, whether traditional or online, know that “sexy” stories bring the visitors and attract the viewers (generating ad revenue in the process.) Media outlets almost always focus much more attention on messages and consciousness-raising efforts that do not ask the viewer to think too much. If your message looks good and doesn’t necessarily require any intellectual endeavor to support or participate in, it is more likely to receive media coverage. This certainly doesn’t mean that a message can’t be both sexy and important. But in the online world as well as in traditional media, the former is most often valued much more highly than the latter.

This brings us to “Boobquake,” via Jen at Blag Hag:

This little bit of supernatural thinking has been floating around the blogosphere today:

“Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes,” Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. Sedighi is Tehran’s acting Friday prayer leader.

I have a modest proposal.

Sedighi claims that not dressing modestly causes earthquakes. If so, we should be able to test this claim scientifically. You all remember the homeopathy overdose?

Time for a Boobquake.

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,

The idea is fantastic and well-intentioned. It points out both the ridiculousness of the cleric’s claim and the despicable and harmful practice of blaming all sorts of horrible things (including sexual assault) on women.

However, the great majority of the responses to this effort have been anything but fantastic. Instead, it has inspired, primarily at its Facebook event page, many comments of the “show us your tits!” or “Dude, awesome, I’ll get to see some boob photos on Monday” variety. And, for some reason, women are complying. They’re posting photos of their cleavage and men are responding with “awesome boobs!”, etc. The Facebook event page has almost 200,000 “attendees” and the effort has received a great deal of media coverage. And that’s all well and good, but how many of these individuals are actually concerned with raising awareness of this issue? Very, very few, I’d say.

Sure, one can assert that the event has been unfairly “hijacked” by the men who are reacting in this way, but this response wasn’t hard to predict. And although the men making these types of comments are solely responsible for the attitudes expressed in them, why provide them with fodder? I understand that this is intended to be a lighthearted attempt to point out the ridiculousness and stupidity of the assertions made by the cleric, but that intention has been completely buried under a constant stream of “show us your tits” comments.

Although I support the ideas behind Boobquake, I had no interest in participating, partly because I was fairly certain that this would be the response, and partly because I do not want my appearance to be my message. Unless they are creepy or threatening in some way, I certainly don’t mind compliments on my appearance. They can sometimes be quite flattering. However, I want my assertions to be able to stand on their own merits, regardless of how I look.

That’s not the case with Boobquake, though. It’s an event in which one’s appearance is one’s message. Worse, even a quick look at its Facebook page shows that its original intent has now all but disappeared. To be clear: I do not blame Jen for this. She has done a great deal of serious activism (and Boobquake in no way negates that activism) and she has made it clear that she doesn’t support the “show us your boobs” responses. However, how could this reaction not have been foreseen? And why is anyone surprised that it has been hijacked in this way?

If you are in support of this event, please be sure to make it clear that you do not condone the “show us your boobs” responses. Remind people of the event’s intent. If you run a blog or a site on which you have posted about this, call out any commenter who responds in this way.

Let’s dress however we want to, let’s be as modest or as immodest as we choose, and let’s use our sexuality however we see fit. It’s all about choice. If Boobquake is your kind of thing, then, by all means, enjoy it. But don’t stop there. Write about these issues. Raise consciousness about them. Speak out against the “show us your tits” reactions. And please don’t pretend that merely showing as much cleavage as possible is somehow making any kind of difference. It’s not.

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