Digital Eclipse

On BoobQuake: It was a silly idea. Someone's joke in response to yet another person in the world showing his ass. Of course, as is true with almost anything that combines breasts and the internet, it expanded. As if 80,000 women* needed an excuse to wear low-cut tops, right? This is 2010! There's an ever-increasing number of places in the world where women can dress freely. I hear there's even places where women walk around entirely topless, and have for centuries! The internet is bursting with examples of female sexuality. So far no heads have exploded, nor have we all been consumed by Godly Wrath, so clearly we're on to something.

Keeping an eye on BoobQuake though has left me with thinky thoughts, because (predictably) the response has not been entirely positive, even in our "enlightened" age. If you glance at any but the most lighthearted of places, there's invariably at least one person in the comments saying that this is setting back feminism. This is demeaning us. We're supposed to be acting like people, not like animals. This sort of thing gives women a bad name. That sounds stunningly familiar. Where have I heard this before?
( Oh, I know! Fandom! )
So to anyone who says that BoobQuake isn't feminist, I give unto you a hearty Shut The Fuck Up and Sit The Fuck Down. It's not our Collective Womanly Duty to be Responsible to anyone but ourselves, and the sooner everyone figures that out, the better off we'll be.


* I apologize for the gender binary as it's used in this post. I'm afraid I don't have the experience/education to frame it in any other terms. If anyone who doesn't fit the binary wants to talk about their particular experiences with this issue, I would love to chat.

** Women/Men as used here refer to gender presentation and perception. In other words, if Person presents as female, zie will be treated as female, and vice versa.

*** This by no means suggests that fandom activity is de-facto feminist, but I doubt that online fandom as it currently exists would have been possible without feminism.