Boobquake Gains Over 200,000 Registered Attendees

April 26th, 2010 - A social experiment hosted by blogger Jen McCreigh dubbed "Boobquake" has received large amounts of support and interest. As of 5 p.m. EST, the Boobquake Facebook event had over 200,000 registered attendees. Boobquake, an event which encourages women to wear their "most cleavage-showing shirt" in a faux scientific experiment, is a response to comments by Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi. According to McCreigh, the acting prayer leader was quoted by the 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."

Boobquake was described by McCreigh on her blog as "a joke and somewhat sarcastic reply to the ludicrous notion that women's immodesty causes earthquakes has now exploded." According to the website, the Facebook event amassed over 14,000 registered participants in just over 24 hours of being posted. The Twitter stream for the trend #boobquake has been updating with new posts every few seconds over the course of the day, and the Facebook Boobquake fan page has over 58,000 users as "fans."

McCreight, who is a self-proclaimed "liberal, geeky, nerdy, scientific, perverted atheist feminist trapped in Indiana," last updated the official thread following the success of Boobquake at approximately noon EST with a scheduled update planned for after the event closes at 6 a.m. EST. Although McCreight is located in Lafayette, Indiana, the frenzy around Boobquake has led to participants all over the country and the event is open for anyone to join. Lindsey Garbisch of Chandler, Arizona, posted her support on the Boobquake Facebook wall: "Arizona is still earthquake free and since it 90 degrees out most all ladies are supporting boobquake today."

McCreight is also hosted a local event titled "The Epicenter" in West Layfayette, Indiana, from 1-3 p.m. EST at the Bell Tower at Purdue University. Attendees were encouraged to bring posters with sayings, with suggestions such as "Teach the Controversy: Immodesty causes earthquakes!" and "Cleavage for Science!" provided on the event Facebook description. Over 190 Facebook users registered to be guests for the local version of Boobquake.

Boobquake is not only a social experiment, but is now also a philanthropist endeavor. McCreigh, in partnership with Zazzle, is offering four different T-Shirt or Tanktop designs which will donate 100% of profit to the Red Cross and JREF, according to the Boobquake event information. To read more about Boobquake and purchasing a T-Shirt to commemorate the event, visit the official event posting here on Facebook.

Sources:
Facebook Event, "Boobquake"
Jen McCreigh, "Blag Hag: A quick clarification about Boobquake" and "Blag Hag: And the boobquake experiment has begun,"