Where Cleavage Meets Geology: The Boobquake Backlash Is Proving to Be Quite a Handful

“With the power of our scandalous bodies combined, we should surely produce an earthquake,” reads McCreight’s Facebook invitation to the first ever “Boobquake” today. The purpose and sole activity of the day is for as many women as possible to dress immodestly in whatever way they choose, be it low-cut tops or booty shorts, and yes, to trigger an earthquake.

What began as a sarcastic jab at the ridiculous and offensively misogynistic claim of Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi that women’s immodesty and promiscuity is a direct cause of earthquakes, has actually garnered a good bit of the nation’s attention, including the scientific community, feminist bloggers, and googly-eyed men everywhere. The event, orchestrated by Purdue student Jen McCreight and 196,000 of her closest Facebook friends, is finding both enthusiasts (giddy news sources, straight guys) and skeptics.

“Since when did we ‘stick it to the man’ by wearing low-cut shirts or short shorts?’ asks Beth Mann’s Salon blog post in response to the enthusiasm of so many boobquake participants. Perhaps the event isn’t the most progressive, but her “Girls Gone Wild with a cause slapped on it” label feels a little indulgent for a single day of auspicious ogling, no?

The point of the, ahem, display is of course to not produce an earthquake, and disprove the ludicrous hypothesis. Unfortunately for the cleavage-happy population, a Discover Magazine story in reaction to the event points out that, “On average we get one [earthquake] in the magnitude 6 – 6.9 range every couple of days somewhere in the world, and one in the 5 – 5.9 range something like three to five times every day. That’s every few hours!” So in reality the boobquakers stand to prove Sedighi’s point, if he’s got a very sensitive seismograph and/or a U.S. Geological Survey hookup.

In fact, posted under the headline, “Oh no! It worked!,” on the Boobquake fan page (58,000 members) was the news that early this morning there was actually a 6.9 magnitude quake off the coast of Taiwan. Look what the cleavage hath wrought!