Why women flash breasts at Mardi Gras

Larissa Rzemienski (YourTango, 2/20/17); Ananda, Jen B., Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

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The truth about why women show their boobs at Mardi Gras

Throw beads, or don't look!

What comes to mind when thinking of Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday")? For some, it’s the traditional fare -- extravagant parade floats, exquisite masks, shiny beads. For most, it's women flashing their boobs, wild parties, and the craziness that is Bourbon Street.

Mardi Gras is a historical celebration that dates back thousands of years and was intended to be a Holy Week hedonistic celebration living it up on the day before 40 days of Lent (abstaining, sacrificing, giving up, letting go, and breaking bad habits).

Come, all ye sinners. Feel shame! Offend not the Lord. Pyre ashes, get your pyre ashes.

The male of the species, living in big cities, has no shame. Monkey see, money do (Seinfeld).

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It's a time to fatten up before the now largely symbolic fasting. But the hedonism portrayed by the media is completely separate from the real purpose of the celebration.

Breast flashing is not considered to be a “real” tradition of Mardi Gras, except for mammals with cameras, but rather a phenomenon that surrounds the spring break mentality of the young people that hang out on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

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The festive parades throughout New Orleans and the South remain a more sacred old school religious celebration frequented by locals, while the wild celebrations occur only on Bourbon Street with thousands of tourists.

Why?

"Why?" is an interesting question. Have you considered the opposite question: "Why not?"?

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So why exchange beads for exposing body parts intended only for infants? Why DO women flash their breasts at Mardi Gras?

The act of bearing one’s breasts at Mardi Gras dates back to the 1970s, but it drastically increased from 1987 to 1991. Many women attribute the flashing of their breasts to the mass consumption of alcohol [and other intoxicants].

They also report pleasure from violating the expected norms of society as a whole. One study found that 68 percent of men and 63 percent of women had at least 5 or 6 drinks per sitting while at Mardi Gras festivities.

About one-quarter of the men reported having at least 16 drinks per sitting. Whoa.

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• Are they "attention wh**es"?
• Is it "monkey see, monkey do"?
• Is it low self-esteem needing a quick boost?
• Might it be that "we got caught up in the excitement"?
• "You and me, Baby, ain't nothing but mammals, so let's..." ("The Bad Touch" by Bloodhound Gang)

Casual sex

I'm cutting loose because it's Spring Break!!

The study also reported that 42 percent of men expect to have sex with somebody they meet at Mardi Gras. A third (33%) of all attendees surveyed did, in fact, have sex with someone that they had met at the festivities, and about 50% said at least a few of their friends did, too.

Perhaps we could compare the wild times at Mardi Gras to the activities that take place in Las Vegas. Clearly, there are some similarities between the two.

What happens on Bourbon St. does not necessarily stay on Bourbon St.

Max, we found them, we found them!

In actuality, the craziness is often photographed and videotaped. This can come back to haunt people. It’s widely known that media outlets reserve Bourbon Street balconies at least five years in advance to get the best shots.

One female flasher found out that video footage of her flashing her breasts showed up on a capitalist Girls Gone Wild video. No one asked her to sign a release.

She filed a court case after discovering that her images were on the cover of the DVD and X-rated footage of her within the video.

I love kids, not women's breasts.

Breast flashing and wild behaviors could also be attributed to the concept of mob mentality. With so little inhibition and such large crowds, a single person -- egged on by friends, bead throwers, and alcohol -- could feel her behavior is normal, that she won't necessarily be picked out of a crowd.

One can feel anonymous among a large half-naked crowd of strangers and, thus, be more prone to show the goods.

Some fall into the tourist trap

Another interesting fact is that many of the revelers are out of towners. Many of the partygoers tell interviewers that they are attending Mardi Gras to “escape” their daily lives.

They have the daily stresses of work or school and feel like they need to let off some steam by going to Mardi Gras and completely letting go of their inhibitions. It's a dopamine boost. More