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Wet T-shirt contest

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A contestant being hosed with water in a wet T-shirt contest at theNudes-A-Poppin'pageant (2012)

Awet T-shirt contestis a competition involvingexhibitionism,typically featuring young female contestants at anightclub,bar, or resort. Wet T-shirt contestants generally wear thin white or light-colored T-shirts withoutbras,bikini tops, or other garments beneath. Water (often ice water) is then sprayed or poured onto the participants' chests, causing their T-shirts to turn translucent and cling to theirbreasts.The comparatively rarer male equivalent is thewet boxer contest,sometimes held atgay bars.[1][full citation needed][2][3]

Contestants may take turns dancing or posing before the audience, with the outcome decided either by crowd reaction or by judges' vote. In racier contests, participants may tear or crop their T-shirts to expose theirmidriffs,cleavage,or the undersides of their breasts. Depending on local laws, participants may be allowed to remove their T-shirts or strip completely naked during their performance.

History

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Water is poured from a jug over a contestant's breasts at a wet T-shirt event inPanama City Beach, Floridain 2004.

In the United States,skiingfilmmakerDick Barrymoreclaims in his memoirBreaking Evento have held the first wet T-shirt contest atSun Valley, Idaho's Boiler Room Bar in January 1971, as part of a promotion forK2skis.[4]The contest was promoted as a simple "T-shirt contest" in which airline stewardesses would dance to music wearing K2 promotional T-shirts. However, the first contestant to appear was a professional stripper who danced topless and the amateur contestants responded by drenching their T-shirts before competing. Barrymore held a second "K2 Wet T-Shirt Contest" in the Rusty Nail atStowe Mountain Resort,Vermontin order to film it, despite the fact that Stowe City Council had passed a resolution banning nudity at the event.[5]He held another promotional contest for K2 on 10 March 1971 atAspen, Colorado'sThe Red Onionrestaurant and bar,[4][6]and the contests were featured in a pictorial in the March 1972 issue ofPlayboy.[7]

The first known mention of the termwet T-shirt contestin the press occurred in 1975 inThe Palm Beach Post,describing the contest's appearance at New Orleans discotheques. The contest subsequently became established atspring breakevents inFort Lauderdale, Florida,with some bar owners being fined underpublic indecencylaws for holding one.[8][9]Despite a lack of clarity as to their legal status, contests began to take place elsewhere in the United States. A contest in a Milwaukee tavern in 1976 was subject to a police raid, despite contestants wearingScotch Tapeunder their T-shirts as required by the police.[10]

Jacqueline Bisset's appearance in the 1977 filmThe Deep,where she swam underwater wearing only a T-shirt for a top, helped to bring the wet T-shirt contest to broader public awareness.[11]OnFrank Zappa's 1979 albumJoe's Garagethe track "Fembot in a Wet T-Shirt" tells of Mary fromCanoga Parkwho takes part in a wet T-shirt contest in order to raise money to return home after being abandoned by a rock group in Miami.[12]

The 2003 Americanreality filmThe Real Cancunincluded a wet T-shirt contest.[13]

The Spanish festival ofLa Tomatina,a large public tomato fight where participants become soaked with juice from tomatoes, has been suggested as another possible origin of the wet T-shirt contest, although La Tomatina began in 1945.[11][9]

Examples of inappropriate contests

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Law firm

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In 1983, theKing & Spaldinglaw firm in Atlanta asked female summer interns attending that firm's annual picnic to participate in a wet T-shirt contest. The proposed contest was replaced with aswimsuit competitionand the winner was promised a permanent job on graduation.[14]Some participants said they felt humiliated but did not protest because they were candidates for jobs with the firm.The Wall Street Journalincluded details of the event in a front-page article on sex discrimination in large law firms.[15]The fact that a wet T-shirt contest was proposed led to the case being used to demonstrate institutional sexism in law firms.[16]

In-flight contest

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In 1998, teenagers fromPortland, Oregon,celebrating the completion of high school held a wet T-shirt contest on aBoeing 727en route to a Mexican resort, with a flight attendant encouraging the activity. AnFAAinvestigation followed, as pilots supposedly judged the contest on the flight deck, disregarding rules that passengers are not allowed in the cockpit. A video showed contestants emerging from the cockpit wearing wet T-shirts. The FAA disciplined the pilots for sexual misconduct.[17]

Underage contestants

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Lawsuits have been filed on behalf of underaged contestants who lied about their age to participate in wet T-shirt contests.

In 2002, the parents of teenager Monica Pippin brought a federal lawsuit againstPlayboy Entertainment,Anheuser-Busch,Deslin Hotels,Best Buy,and other companies relating to her appearance the previous year in a Daytona Beach wet T-shirt contest, at which time she had been a 16-year-old high school student. Pippin had danced topless during the contest and had allowed men to pour jugs of water over her bare breasts. After footage of her performance began to appear in videos and on cable television, a neighbor alerted Pippin's parents, who retained a lawyer. Although Pippin admitted in court that she had lied to contest organizers about her age, her attorney claimed that, as a minor, she was unable to give informed consent to perform or be filmed topless. Pippin settled with Anheuser-Busch and Playboy in April 2006.[18][19]

In a similar suit in 2007, two women sued Deslin Hotels,Girls Gone Wild,and various websites that published footage of their appearance in another 2001 Daytona Beach contest. The two girls, who were both sixteen at the time, had been filmed exposing their breasts, buttocks, and pubic areas. Like Pippin, they had lied about their age to gain admission to the contest.[20]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Low Rider".Low Rider.Vol. 23. Park Avenue Design. 2001. p. 78.Archivedfrom the original on 14 April 2023.
  2. ^"Business students show off their assets".The Peak.Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada: Simon Fraser University. Archived fromthe originalon 11 March 2007.Retrieved21 March2007.
  3. ^Wonk, Dalt."Halo Effect (review ofBar Angel) ".Archived fromthe originalon 12 March 2007.Retrieved21 March2007.
  4. ^abBarrymore, Dick(1997)."Chapter 20: Hot Dogs and Wet T-Shirts".Breaking Even.Missoula, Mont.: Pictorial Histories.ISBN9781575100371.OCLC39924562.Archived fromthe originalon 25 December 2007.Retrieved2 September2013.
  5. ^"Roots of an Olympic sport: freestyle – Part II: Freestyle Comes of Age".Skiing Heritage Journal.Vol. 10, no. 3. International Skiing History Association. September 1998. p. 27.ISSN1082-2895.
  6. ^Dunfee, Ryan (3 July 2013)."K2, Sun Valley, Aspen & The First Wet T-Shirt Contest".Curbed Ski.Retrieved2 September2013.
  7. ^"The Shirt Off Her Back".Playboy.19(2): 151–153. March 1972. Archived fromthe originalon 30 December 2013.Retrieved14 February2015.
  8. ^"Wet T-Shirt Contests Pack Pubs".The Palm Beach Post.United Press International.11 November 1975. p. B20. Archived fromthe originalon 16 February 2013.Retrieved14 January2013.
  9. ^abJenny Kutner (25 March 2016)."The Short, Sexist History of the Wet T-Shirt Contest, a Symbol of Spring Break Debauchery".Mic.Retrieved13 July2018.
  10. ^Ron Legro (16 September 1976)."Arrests Put a Damper on Wet T-Shirt Contest".The Milwaukee Sentinel.[dead link]
  11. ^abChodin (16 May 2010)."A History of the Wet T-Shirt Contest".Uproxx. Archived fromthe originalon 28 January 2012.Retrieved14 January2013.
  12. ^Lowe, Kelly Fisher (2007).The Words and Music of Frank Zappa.University of Nebraska Press. p. 153.ISBN9780803260054.
  13. ^Kammeyer, K. (2008).A Hypersexual Society: Sexual Discourse, Erotica, and Pornography in America Today.Springer. p. 154.ISBN9780230616608.
  14. ^"Wet T-Shirt Lawyers".The Washington Post.23 December 1983.Retrieved22 May2018.
  15. ^Stewart, James B. (1998).Follow the Story: How to Write Successful Nonfiction.Simon and Schuster. p.242.ISBN9780684850672.
  16. ^Wilkins, David B.; Gulati, G. Mitu (May 1996)."Why Are There So Few Black Lawyers in Corporate Law Firms: An Institutional Analysis".California Law Review.84(3): 557.doi:10.2307/3480962.JSTOR3480962.
  17. ^Wet T-Shirt Blog (24 May 2011)."Flight Scandal – wet t-shirt contest at 25.000 feet".Wet T-Shirt Blog. Archived fromthe originalon 13 August 2013.Retrieved14 January2013.
  18. ^Graham, Kevin (28 April 2006)."Lawsuit says video exploits teen's naivete".St. Petersburg Times.Retrieved15 January2013.
  19. ^Company, Tampa Publishing."Suit says video exploits spring break naivete".Tampa Bay Times.Retrieved4 May2021.{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help)
  20. ^Timesstaff writer (14 March 2007)."Two sue over footage of wet t-shirt contest".St. Petersburg Times.Archived fromthe originalon 16 October 2012.Retrieved15 January2013.
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