Live Blog of WTFF Kickoff Event with Jen McCreight

**Addendum: If you’re interested in watching video of the presentation, check out this link to Vimeo. Hat tip to Bruce Critelli for shooting the video! 🙂

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Well, here we are at the inaugural kickoff event for the Women Thinking Free Foundation (WTFF) at the Galway Arms in Chicago.  Our featured speaker is Jennifer McCrieght, author of the Blag Hag blog and the savvy skeptic behind the infamous Boobquake of 2010 🙂

We’re in the process of setting everything up, and we’ll be up-and-running in about 30 minutes.  The title of Jen’s talk is “What Boobquake Taught Us About Skepticism & Feminism”… stay tuned!

Btw, if you’re interested in following the event via live Tweeting with the Bolingbrook Babbler go to .@BolingbrookBabb

Our reporter from the Chicago Sun-Times just arrived!  The Bolingbrook Babbler just whispered in my ear: “Look at that, a press release that worked!” 🙂

It’s 7:25 and we’ll be starting the lecture in about 5 minutes.  We’re giving people time to settle, order drinks, and get some food…

Dr. Jennifer Newport, the Vice President of the WTFF, is now introducing the event officially, describing the WTFF and its mission.  She’s talking about how there seem to be not as many women in the skeptical movement as there should be, and part of what we’re doing is to get more female speakers in the skeptical movement.  She’s describing future WTFF events, such as our tour at FermiLab, the skeptrack at GenCon, Skepchicon at Convergence, and TAM!  There is also the WTFF Hug Me initiative, which is a campaign to promote vaccinations.

Dr. Jen is now introducing Jen McCreight – it would be Elyse Anders doing the intro, but she had her baby daughter, Delaney, just a day or two ago.  What a cute kid! 🙂

Women Thinking Free Foundation Kickoff Event!

There’s a groovy new skeptical group in the Chicago region called the Women Thinking Free Foundation (or WTFF) which has the following mission: Our goal as an organization is to bring science, skepticism and critical thinking to the women of the Midwest. We’re planning some great events, campaigns and outreach programs to help provide women with the tools to fight pseudoscience.

Our first event is to host skeptical activist Jen McCreight, the author of the Blag Hag blog and creator of Boobquake…

Saturday, May 22 @ 7pm

Galway Arms – upstairs banquet room

2442 N Clark St

Chicago, IL

No ticket will be issued, names will be added to the guest list.

Limited metered parking available, $13 unlimited parking available in the Children’s Memorial Hospital Parking Garage at 2515 N Clark.

Tickets will be available at the door, as space permits, and may be purchased with cash or credit.

Questions? Please contact Elyse Anders – elyse@womenthinkingfree.org

Boobquake Follow-Up

**Addendum (4/2/10): Jen McCreight, the creator of Boobquake, has a series of great follow-up posts regarding Boobquake, the science behind earthquakes, and related feminist topics.  Check them out…

The Iranian and Muslim response to Boobquake

Why boobquake isn’t destroying feminism

My article on the science of Boobquake at The Guardian

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This past Monday, April 26th, marked the first Boobquake – which was a light-hearted attempt to poke some fun at an Islamic cleric’s utterly hateful & stupid comments about promiscuous women somehow causing… earthquakes.  Let’s see how it went…

Here is some video footage courtesy of Phil over at Skeptic Money 🙂

CNN: Boobquake Rocks Web

Boobquake on the Colbert Report

Boobquake: Breasts That Rock the World!

I wanted to pass along a hilarious & fun example of skeptical activism that I stumbled upon a couple of days ago: Boobquake!!! If you recall, you may have heard that earlier this week, an Iranian cleric declared that women’s “immodesty” and promiscuity was to blame for recent earthquakes that have struck various parts of the world.  I cannot even think of a non-vulgar response to such blatantly superstitious, misogynstic idiocy, but fortunately I don’t have to – that’s where Jen McCreight over at Blag Hag comes in 🙂

In the name of science, I offer my boobs

This little bit of supernatural thinking has been floating around the blogosphere today:

“Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes,” Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. Sedighi is Tehran’s acting Friday prayer leader.I have 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. And if we really get through to him, maybe it’ll be one involving plate tectonics.

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!