Mooning

The practice of mooning is widespread in the English-speaking world; with the term itself arising about 1609.  The alternative use of "mooning," romantically pining, is no longer used.  Can you imagine anyone describing a teen girl as mooning over the likes of Justin Bieber?  The romantic pining is bizarre enough, in my opinion.

Anyway, strangely enough, the gesture itself was first recorded by Flavius Josephus, who told that a Roman soldier provoked a riot from Jewish pilgrims on the way to the Temple.  The Jews didn't care for the message, and holy hell in the form of a riot broke out.  The upshot of that was that thousands were killed between the rioters and the Roman army.

At Caen, during the Hundred Years War, some French soldiers mooned King Edward III's archers, who responded with a volley of arrows!  Sometimes it does not pay to turn the other cheek!

Mooning became popular on college campuses during the 1960's; apparently replacing panty raids and goldfish-swallowing.  The 1960's deserve revisiting by cultural students who wish to see the myriad forms of decadance and not go far back to the ancient Romans.

Apparently, mooning has the same significance in China.  During a border dispute between China and the Soviet Union, there was a lot of tensionbetween the guards of adjacent army posts.  The Chinese border guards would daily moon their Soviet counterparts.  The Soviet guards, in response, held up large portraits of Chairman Mao!  This stopped the Chinese border guards for a while. Things got worse with time, and there were exchanges of gunfire resulting in heavy casualties.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/china/peopleevents/pande06.html

And, of course, Californians in recent time feel encumbent to moon Amtrak.  This annual event in turn resulted in heavy ticket sales so that passengers can see hundreds of buttocks of varying quality on display!  The same Californians are not content merely to visit a beach, they need quantity.

Swimsuit styles play a part.  While a woman wearing a thong at South Beach would not be considered mooning or engaging in indecent exposure, this might not hold true in the Midwest or Bible Belt!  As a rule, if you're in Minneapolis or Boston, keep your tush covered!

Mooning has become an sex equal opportunity lately.  Perhaps this signifies that more women are comfortable with that part of their body than had been the case.  It's a by-product the exercise classes!

Finally, a Maryland circuit court interpreted mooning as a form of free speech expression.  It further distinguished it from indecency, which involves exposure of the genitals.  (No, the court did not touch female breast exposure!)  Now I question this free speech interpretation of mooning, unless somehow a flatus is part of the process!

Mooning Amtrak in California:
an annual ritual