Can 200,000 women cause a Boobquake?

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Women gathered on Purdue campus this afternoon as part of "Boobquake," an event which boasts over 200,000 participants across the world.

Purdue Senior Jennifer McCreight is the mind behind Boobquake. She heard that Iranian cleric Kazem Sedighi had suggested that immodestly dressed women caused earthquakes by angering God.

"I think it shows people want to point out that this sort of opinion is ridiculous. Not only is it supernaturall it is hateful towards women."

McCreight, a Genetics and Evolution major at Purdue, had an idea for a lighthearted rebuttal: why not treat this religious assertion as a serious scientific hypothesis and test it?

Thus, Boobquake was born.

McCreight created a Facebook event and invited 30 friends to dress immodestly for a day and see if there was a significantly higher number of earthquakes. She was stunned when she checked the event later to see that tens of thousands had signed up.

About 25 women attended the meetup on Purdue's campus, baring legs or clevage to help test Sedighi's claim.

"If anyone goes ahead and makes a sexist comment like that, you really need to challenge that idea, but in a light hearted way," said participant Rachel Tobias.

"We should not be blamed for those sorts of tragedies. Blaming women for those tragedies is atrocious. It's a feminist cause. It's a science cause," said supporter Angela Venado.  "What we are doing out here is proving that boobs are not something to be ashamed of."

McCreight said last week that she didn't impose a specific dress code, but asked people to dress as immodestly as they feel comfortable with.

"Even showing an ankle to some people would be immodest, so you can interpret that however you wish,” said McCreight.

Supporters, both male and female, said they showed up to prove the Iranian cleric wrong.

"Men say some stupid things sometimes and not all of use support idiots like that," said supporter Eric East.

Matt Kerns showed up with a sign that read "God Hates Boobs" to mock the cleric's words.

"We live in tense time. It's a funny idea. It was a great idea. It was very clever," said Kerns.

Several guys also admitted they came just for the view.

"The women are dressed pretty nice. I think you're going to get a lot of guys here. I know that's why I'm here. That and to hold the sign," said Kerns.

Boobquake gatherings took place worldwide, but McCreight said the support she received from people in Iran meant the most.

"I've been getting emails from people in Iran saying how much they loved the event," she said.

McCreight said she will study today's seismic activity to see if earthquakes were more frequent or more severe during the event. A 6.5-magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan earlier today, and a minor 2.7-magnitude quake hit Ohio, a little closer to McCreight's home in Indiana.

McCreight said the Taiwan quake doesn't prove anything yet.

"People have been telling me repeatedly today that there was a 6.6 earthquake near Taiwan. I just want to remind people that's it's not significant yet. Those magnitude earthquakes happen about 150 times a year. There was a 35 percent chance it would happen today," said McCreight.

McCreight is giving the event until 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning before she begins making her calculations to see if there was a significant difference. She will publish those results on her blog and we'll bring them to you here on WLFI.com.

To find out more about this event, check out the Boobquake event on Facebook or look at McCreight's blog here .

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