By Jerram Watts
As women around the world paraded their assets on Boobquake Day – a 6.5 magnitude earthquake rocked Taiwan.
Boobquake organiser Jennifer McCreight took to Facebook to campaign against Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi’s claim that female immodesty caused earthquakes.
Instead of debunking Sedighi’s claims – Ms McCreight just may have added a string to his bow.
Over 200,000 women pledged to immerse themselves in the Boobquake campaign on April 26 – the same day Taiwan was shaken by a 6.5 quake.
Ms McCreight – a 22-year-old genetics and evolution double major at Purdue University in Indiana, insisted the Taiwan quake didn’t matter to Boobquake partakers because it happened outside her time zone.
She wrote on her Twitter feed:
“On average, 134 magnitude 6-6.9 earthquakes occur annually.”
She followed that up on her Blag Hag blog with: “If we get many of a similar magnitude in the next 24 hours, we might start worshipping the power of immodesty.”
Despite the strength of the tremor, Taiwan escaped relatively unscathed; buildings swayed briefly, but none fell and there were no casualties The Daily Mail reported.
Mr Sedighi was quoted in Iranian media as saying: “Many women who do not dress modestly… lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society which, [consequently], increases earthquakes.
“What can we do to avoid being buried under the rubble?” Mr Sedighi said during a Friday prayer sermon.
“There is no other solution but to take refuge in religion and to adapt our lives to Islam’s moral codes.”
In response, Ms McCreight wrote on the Boobquake Facebook page:
“I encourage other female sceptics to join me and embrace the supposed supernatural power of their breasts.
“With the power of our scandalous bodies combined, we should surely produce an earthquake.”
Potential calamities aside, Ms McCreight says the Boobquake campaign was more of a feminist statement.
“It’s not supposed to be serious activism that is going to revolutionise women’s rights,” she says. “But just a bit of fun, juvenile humour. I’m a firm believer that when someone says something so stupid and hateful, serious discourse isn’t going to accomplish anything – sometimes light-hearted mockery is worthwhile.”
Ms McCreight’s campaign was picked up by people and media all over the world.
She had interviews with BBC, CNN and CBC, and media outlets from Persia to New Zealand were covering the campaign.
3 News