It's a BOOBQUAKE!!! (Or not.)
As some of you know, the Boobquake on Monday was the inadvertent brainchild of a college student from Indiana who responded with delightful tongue-in-cheek humor to that Iranian cleric who said that promiscuous women cause earthquakes. So the natural, scientific way to test that assertion was to dress provocatively and then check the earthquake frequency at the time of the experiment.
Well, the RESULTS are in! And as you can probably guess, these ladies' lovely cleavage did not shake the earth. It might have shaken other wonderful things, but the tectonic response was neutral. Besides, if that was the case, we would see massive earthquake activity on Mardi Gras, Cinqo de Mayo, Halloween, and Pride Days. Who wants to bet that there's no correlation there, either?
Now, this cleric isn't alone in his assertions. Religious nuts of all persuasions and creeds have been making claims like this for thousands of years. That's nothing new. In fact, back in 1998, Janis Walworth wrote an article about Pat Robertson's claims that gays were incurring God's wrath in the form of natural disasters: Do Gays Cause Hurricanes? Read it. It's a lovely bit of statistical satire that really proves its point. It also proves that religious fundamentalists of all creeds tend to make crass, judgmental statements that have no basis in reality. In the "highly amusing irony" category, you should also note that Pat Robertson made those comments in 1998. The first hurricane to make landfall in the United States in 1998, after Robertson's comments, was Hurricane Bonnie. Bonnie landed in North Carolina and caused a great deal of havoc and millions of dollars of damage to the Hampton Roads/VA Beach area of VA. And... VA Beach is the HQ of Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network.
So... in conclusion, wear what makes you comfortable! Have a wet t-shirt contest! Wear a bikini! Wear a corset! Wear fishnet stockings and stilettos! Your attire will NOT cause an earthquake! It may cause your parents to have a heart attack, but you will not cause the earth to crack open and swallow cities whole while fire and brimstone rain down upon the earth. Likewise, modest attire will not prevent these things from happening either. Sometimes... an earthquake is just an earthquake.
Well, the RESULTS are in! And as you can probably guess, these ladies' lovely cleavage did not shake the earth. It might have shaken other wonderful things, but the tectonic response was neutral. Besides, if that was the case, we would see massive earthquake activity on Mardi Gras, Cinqo de Mayo, Halloween, and Pride Days. Who wants to bet that there's no correlation there, either?
Now, this cleric isn't alone in his assertions. Religious nuts of all persuasions and creeds have been making claims like this for thousands of years. That's nothing new. In fact, back in 1998, Janis Walworth wrote an article about Pat Robertson's claims that gays were incurring God's wrath in the form of natural disasters: Do Gays Cause Hurricanes? Read it. It's a lovely bit of statistical satire that really proves its point. It also proves that religious fundamentalists of all creeds tend to make crass, judgmental statements that have no basis in reality. In the "highly amusing irony" category, you should also note that Pat Robertson made those comments in 1998. The first hurricane to make landfall in the United States in 1998, after Robertson's comments, was Hurricane Bonnie. Bonnie landed in North Carolina and caused a great deal of havoc and millions of dollars of damage to the Hampton Roads/VA Beach area of VA. And... VA Beach is the HQ of Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network.
So... in conclusion, wear what makes you comfortable! Have a wet t-shirt contest! Wear a bikini! Wear a corset! Wear fishnet stockings and stilettos! Your attire will NOT cause an earthquake! It may cause your parents to have a heart attack, but you will not cause the earth to crack open and swallow cities whole while fire and brimstone rain down upon the earth. Likewise, modest attire will not prevent these things from happening either. Sometimes... an earthquake is just an earthquake.