A bust…

So Boobquake was a bust (no pun intended). It’s amazing how quickly Boobquake devolved from raising awareness in America of Islam’s misogyny, intolerance, superstition, and scientific ignorance to instead raising awareness in America of feminism’s misogyny, intolerance, superstition, and scientific ignorance. But that’s what happens when you have a bunch of liberal anti-theists running something. Instead of making a statement and having fun, they invariably have an estrogen spike and wonder if what they accomplished was actually “degrading”. It’s also a lesson in self-absorption since whatever the issue is, for liberals it always comes back to them. How else can you explain that what started out as a fun attempt by a college co-ed to highlight the absurdity of equating seismic activity with female immodesty – a claim made by several influential Iranian clerics – turned into a torturous round of ideological introspection?

Rutgers academic, feminist, and undocumented Klingon Golbarg Bashi (she has to be Klingon with that name) is the one who called the idea of Boobquake “degrading.” She then promptly started a new movement uninspiringly called “Brainquake”:

Let’s create a ‘Brainquake’ and show off our résumés, CVs, honors, prizes, accomplishments (photo evidence) because the Hojatoleslam and the Islamic Republic of Iran are afraid of women’s abilities to push for change.

How about just show us your boobs, Golbarg.

In fact, THAT’S what scares Muslim clerics, not women with university degrees. You don’t think there’s enough “resumes, CVs, honors, prizes, [and] accomplishments” among the most sophisticated and intelligent women in the world? They can read classical Arabic, speak English, raise a family, and design a nuclear bomb…all at the same time. So the issue isn’t that Iranian women lack “accomplishments”, the issue is that they lack respect within Islam. Swaddled in burqas and hidden from view, the greatest threat they pose to a 9th Century death cult IS cleavage, short skirts, clingy clothing, and a little flirtatiousness. When Iranian men are distracted by something better than chants of “Death to America” and martyrdom, then Iran’s clerics have a problem.

Posted Tuesday, April 27, 2010 5:14 PM

The Seismic Impact of the Boobquake Movement

Jessica Ramirez

Jennifer McCreight did not mean to make the Internet freak out over boobs and earthquakes. In fact, what we now know as the Boobquake movement started out as a boob joke. Last week, amid college homework, McCreight came across a comment by Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, who was quoted as saying, “Many women who do not dress modestly…lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity, and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes.” That’s right, bad girls literally make tectonic plates shift in discomfort, causing the earth to quake. (And here I thought earth-shattering was supposed to be a good thing.)

So McCreight decided to put the man’s theory to the test. She offered up a modest proposal, inviting women on Facebook and Twitter to wear their most revealing tops this Monday to see what kind of seismic impact they might have on the world. Well, the results are in and, according to McCreight’s blog, there were only 47 earthquakes on Monday, not an abnormal number based on U.S. Geological Survey figures. In other words, bosoms have no supernatural powers to move the planet. Sorry, ladies.

But there were at least some aftershocks. Facebook,  Twitter, and  YouTube were showered with thousands of cleavage shots from across America and the world yesterday. Websites like zazzle.com created tank tops with logos like “Did the earth move for you?” and “I survived Boobquake.” And if that weren’t enough, nobody can agree on whether this is a giant virtual leap forward for feminism or just an acceptable version of Girls Gone Wild.

Russell Blackford at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies is pro-show writing, “Strut your stuff, and don’t let anyone make you feel ashamed about so-called ‘immodesty’. Feel free to scorn the moralism of Islamic clerics and anyone else who tries to put you down.”  While Rutgers academic and feminist Golbarg Bashi called the idea degrading and started a new movement. “Let’s create a ‘Brainquake’ and show off our résumés, CVs, honors, prizes, accomplishments (photo evidence) because the Hojatoleslam and the Islamic Republic of Iran are afraid of women’s abilities to push for change,” she wrote.

Regardless of what side you’re on, both make good points. It is, after all, a ridiculous notion to suggest body parts are basically evil. But it’s also kind of awkward to think women are sticking it to the cleric by showing off their stuff. He might not like it, but the rest of the world isn’t as easily offended by shapely body parts. We are talking about the Internet here. No two pair of eyes view the same image—even with context—the same way. That’s how a boob joke becomes a movement, and that same movement becomes a poster child for feminism lite, all in the span of seven days.