Stylish with Substance

'Tis a new holiday, but it roots from ancient beliefs ... in a way. The story starts with religion, actually, but this is more of an atheistic holiday, while still remaining inviting to more open-minded religious persons as well. The tale opens with an Iranian cleric promoting the idea that not only does God/a god punishes humans for evil, but our promiscous modern times have resulted in earth quakes*.

All those bouncing boobs, apparently, have got a whole lotta other shakin' goin' on.

Not to make light of earthquakes, no, just this archaic school of thought. Sadly, though, Kazem Sedighi doesn't just blame people today, he blames women,

"Many women ... do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes"

He advises all to follow Islam to stop the havoc wreaked on the Earth by, what we know to be, natural disasters. However any normal person realizes that the earthquakes are likely caused by climate change and, as they say, women's hemlines go up when the economy goes down - so yes these things are happening more currently. It's a sort of correlation, but of course exclusive of each other, as there is no related causation to be found in rational thinking.So part two of the story of Boobquake begins when people react to this publication, or rather, one feminist blogger. She had a "modest proposal":

Sedighi claims that not dressing modestly causes earthquakes. If so, we should be able to test this claim scientifically. You all remember the homeopathy overdose? Time for a Boobquake. On Monday, April 26th, I will wear the most cleavage-showing shirt I own. Yes, the one usually reserved for a night on the town. I encourage other female skeptics to join me and embrace the supposed supernatural power of their breasts. Or short shorts, if that's your preferred form of immodesty. With the power of our scandalous bodies combined, we should surely produce an earthquake. If not, I'm sure Sedighi can come up with a rational explanation for why the ground didn't rumble. ... So, who's with me? I may be a D cup, but that will probably only produce a slight tremor on its own. If you'll be joining me on twitter, use the tag #boobquake! Or join the facebook event! (Confused? Angry? Think my science is [carp]? Read a serious explanation of boobquake here)

Worried about participating? Don't be unless you belief in that sort of fundamentalist or die-hard religious thinking. Perhaps angry about women putting their bodies on display for objectification? I say for a special occasion, we can do what we want with our bodies. At least we're not actually being promiscuous today - it's about just the sex appeal and mere fun.

And it's in the name of scientific experimentation!

As put by Bitch Buzz's Cate Sevilla,

If you want to get your feminist panties in a twist because of all the cleavage and, erm, objectification involved in Boobquake, you can. But personally I think you should just laugh and take this as over 41,000 people (give or take a few due to the perverts) agreeing that women being blamed for earthquakes and adultery because of our immodest dress is ... ridiculous.  (Also, the word BOOBQUAKE is just fun.) Plus, McCreight also encourages people to “help out the victims of inevitable natural disasters” noting that “[dressing] modestly won’t end earthquakes”. So, if you’re not down with cleavage but still agree that Sedighi’s comments are ridiculous, why not give to the Red Cross or the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Foundation?

In case you were wondering whether I'm participating - oh yes!

I plan to celebrate with not only my breasts, but legs and these Louboutins:

(or perhaps these ones, because they're easier to wear:)

*It must be noted that the disaster of earth quakes was probably chosen because Iran suffers a lot of them. How clever of the man, eh?