Boobquake
Photo posted to Facebook’s Boobquake event page by Linda Jean Vensel Danforth of Boston, MA
Yesterday was Boobquake, an event Purdue student Jen McCreight organized on Facebook. The goal was for women everywhere to wear their most revealing outfits, thereby embracing their female sexuality.
As of 11:55pm on Monday night, the “event” had 211,570 “guests” and counting. The media went nuts over it because there were boobs involved – Google or Twitter search “Boobquake” and you’ll see what I mean – and, of course, comments abounded, both in favor of and opposed to Boobquake. A lot of women also posted pictures of their cleavage on the Facebook event page.
Personally, Boobquake reminds me of Halloween; an excuse for members of our puritanical society to dress more provocatively than Banana Republic and J. Crew normally allows. But it also reminds me of The Daily Show sketch about Chatroulette, in which Jon Stewart keeps stumbling on other reporters trying to do the same story. In other words, the media coverage might have been more of a story than the event itself.
McCreight hurriedly typed out an overwhelmed response to all of the media attention, while doing her homework. I can’t help but like her, and like Boobquake, even though it’s a dumb name. We should be able to show off our bodies without judgment, not just on a random Monday, but whenever we damn please.
