Mooning
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Mooning, or giving the browneye 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.
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[edit] Word history
Moon was a common shape-metaphor for the butt in English since 1743, and the verb to moon 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".[citation needed]
[edit] Variants
Mooning is sometimes performed from a moving vehicle.
Mooning with one's buttocks pressed against glass (for example, a car window) is known as a pressed ham.
Spreading apart one's buttcheeks to reveal one's anal eye is known as bulldogging.
In some countries, blue mooning means exposing the genitals instead of the buttocks for the same purposes. In the UK, this is sometimes called a sunny (i.e, the opposite of a moon). In Canada this is often referred to as "hanging a rat". A blue moon also refers jokingly to the act of mooning on a very cold day, the cold weather supposedly changing the color of the skin.
In Australia, a moon is commonly referred to as a "browneye", because the cheeks are often spread apart to expose the anus, whilst the act of mooning itself is known as "chucking a browneye".
[edit] Geographic distribution
The custom of mooning may be limited to North America, some countries of Europe and the Māori of New Zealand.
[edit] 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[AP2006]. This decision has not been confirmed by any higher court.
[edit] 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.[Crécy]
- On one of Giovanni da Verrazzano's trips to North America in the 1520s, he and his crew were mooned by a group of Abenaki Indians, who had already been soured by previous contact with Europeans. Although willing to trade their goods for steel and cloth, they denied Verrazanno permission to land, insisting on doing business on the open water, transferring the goods with ropes. Once the last items had been sent over, the Abenaki "began showing their buttocks and laughing." This is the first recorded incident of American mooning.
- A legend of Nice (now in France, then part of Savoy) holds that the 1534 siege of the city by French and Turkish forces was repelled by a washerwoman named Catherine Ségurane, who led the townspeople to victory and drove away the Ottoman Turks by mooning them.
- During a visit by Queen Elizabeth II to New Zealand, Tame Iti, a Māori, mooned the queen. His defense in court was that it was a traditional Māori form of protest and he could therefore not be charged with indecent exposure.
- 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.[BBC2000]
- The Annual Mooning of Amtrak [1] 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.[Amtrak]
- At the 2004 MTV Movie Awards, D12 (a rap group led by Eminem) mooned the crowd.
- In the 2005 NFL playoffs, former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss pretended to moon Green Bay Packers fans at Lambeau Field after scoring a touchdown. Moss's "pretend moon" was condemned by most NFL coaches and commentators, and he had to pay a US$10,000 fine. Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy remarked that Packers fans are infamous for mooning opposing teams as they leave on the team bus and that Moss was probably jokingly retaliating.
- During The Amazing Race 8 (Family Edition), Lauren Bransen mooned the Linz family, whose car was driving next to theirs. The mooning was obscured by pixelization.
[edit] Noteworthy examples of mooning in popular culture
- Zappa's Pound for a Brown on the Bus is about Mooning
- In the film Last Tango in Paris, Marlon Brando moons the upper class patrons of a tango dance hall as he and his female companion are being kicked out.
- The film Braveheart contains a scene in which over a thousand Scottish warriors mooned the English forces, though this had not actually taken place in the historical battle depicted.
- Mooning scenes were included in the 1950s-set films American Graffiti, Hey Good Lookin', and Grease.
- On the Futurama episode Future Stock, Fry moons world-domineering billionaire robot company owner Mom by squishing his bare buttocks up against a window, eliciting her response, "You call that an anus?!" (a censored version replaces the line with "You call that a pressed ham?!")
- On The Simpsons, Homer and Bart are frequent offenders. Homer mooned his boss Mr. Burns while entertaining at a birthday party, and Bart once imitated Richard Nixon with a rubber novelty nose attached to his buttcheeks, frightening and appalling several female classmates. In "Bart-Mangled Banner" Bart inadvertently moons the flag. Bart also showed his patriotism by mooning a mob of Australian nationals, including the Australian Prime Minister, all while humming the Star-Spangled Banner. The text, "DON'T TREAD ON ME" was written on his butt. In Homer's Enemy, Frank Grimes goes around Springfield Nuclear Power Plant imitating Homer's lazy behaviour. He moons a technician in the process before dying of electrocution. In Beyond Blunderdome, Homer and Mel Gibson moon a group of movie studio executives, in a reference to Braveheart.
- In a first season episode of The Jeff Foxworthy Show, Jeff and his brother Wayne take Jeff's son Matt out mooning in one of the numerous "Foxworthy traditions." Eventually, Wayne ends up mooning Jeff's wife Karen and her friend.
- In an episode of That 70's Show when the yearbooks are released, a picture of Donna mooning the Pep Rally is found.
- In the movie Beavis and Butt-head Do America, Butt-head moons a chauffeur waiting for himself and Beavis at an airport. Later both Beavis and Butt-head moon the White House from a coach they are travelling on. In the television series, Beavis moons Butt-Head in the episode "Dude, A Reward".
- D-Generation X from the WWE which is known for their child's play has mooned on occasion and since their rebirth in 2006 Triple H has mooned Vince McMahon and had midget Spirit Squad members moon the real Spirit Squad.
- One episode of the kid's show Hey Arnold!, Harold, Stinky and Sid all mooned principal Wartz at the same time.
- In a Don Martin cartoon from Mad Magazine #263 (June, 1986), a young man in a car moons a gentleman who is standing on a sidewalk. Upon seeing this "full moon", the gentleman becomes a werewolf and pursues the car.
- In an episode of King of the Hill, Hank moons the former Governor of Texas, Ann Richards.
- During the final episode of Flavor of Love, an angry New York moons Flav and Deelishis before storming off the set.
[edit] References
- Amtrak Sheldon (2005). Mooning Amtrak Trains, Southern California USA. Retrieved on February 4, 2006.
- AP2006 "Judge rules 'mooning' is not illegal in Md.", The News Journal, redistributed from the Associated Press, January 6, 2006, pp. B6.
- BBC2000 "Cheeky anarchists in palace protest", BBC, June 3, 2000.
- Crécy Battle of Crécy. California Archery (2002). Retrieved on February 4, 2006.
- Mann, Charles C. "Native Intelligence" Smithsonian magazine, December 2005, vol. 36 #9, pp. 94-108.
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