Mooning

Mooning is the act of displaying one's bare buttocks by removing clothing, e.g. by lowering the back side of one's trousers and underpants, usually bending over, whether also exposing the genitals or not. Mooning is used in some cultures to express protest, scorn, disrespect or provocation but can simply be done for shock value or fun.

Mooning is generally considered a rude and insulting act (though less offensive than flashing). Mooning is considered offensive because the buttocks are considered taboo (due to their association with defecation), and mooning exposes the victim to this taboo.

Word history

Moon has been a common shape-metaphor for the buttocks in English since 1743, and the verb to moon has meant 'to expose to (moon)light' since 1601, long before they were combined in US student slang in the verb(al expression) mooning "to flash the buttocks" in 1968. Formerly, mooning was slang for "wandering idly" and "romantically pining".^[1]

Geographic distribution

The custom of mooning may be limited to North America, some countries of Europe and the Māori of New Zealand.

Legal status

A court in Maryland determined in 2006 that mooning is a form of expression protected by the United States constitutional right of freedom of speech.^[2] This decision has not been confirmed by any higher court.

Notable incidents of mooning

• During the Battle of Crécy in 1346 when king Edward III of England took Caen, on the way to Crécy, several hundred Normandy soldiers exposed their backsides to the English archers and many of them paid a high price for doing so.^[3]
• The Etchemin tribe of Maine were noted for this custom by a number of early explorers of the Atlantic coastline.^[4]
• In June 2000, a mass mooning event was organised outside of Buckingham Palace in England by the Movement Against the Monarchy (M'AM). The idea was for anti-monarchists to show their dislike of the British monarchy by performing a mass mooning at their home. However, a large police presence prevented a large scale mooning, but even so, a few individuals mooned (although there were many more who turned up to the event but were put off mooning by the large police presence). Some of them were arrested, but others managed to pose for various newspapers etc. This event is known as the Moon Against the Monarchy event.^[5]
• The Annual Mooning of Amtrak is a long-running annual tradition in Laguna Niguel, (Orange County) California, U.S.A, where many people spend all day mooning at Amtrak trains; some even ride the trains on that day just so they can witness the event.^[6]

References

See also

• Anasyrma
• Gestures
• Pantsing
• Indecent exposure
• Public nudityda:Måne (bagdel)

pt:Bundalelê

Wikipedia information about Mooning This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mooning". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.