Earthquakes Aren't Caused by Scantily-Dressed Women
The Claim
Immodestly-dressed women cause increased earthquakes.
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Emerging story
In late May 2021, an image of Hojatoleslam Kazem Seddiqui went viral, particularly on Twitter and Reddit. The image includes the quote: “Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes.”
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that Seddiqui made the claim to Iranian media in 2010.
In response to the claim, blogger Jey McCreight created “Boobquake,” an April 2010 rally in which women wore “risqué clothing” to see if they could cause an earthquake. McCreight wrote: “With the power of our scandalous bodies combined, we should surely produce an earthquake. If not, I'm sure Seddiqui can come up with a rational explanation for why the ground didn't rumble.” Statistical analysis of the event showed that seismic activity during “Boobquake” was actually slightly lower than average.
According to a multitude of scientific sources and extensive research, earthquakes are actually caused by the displacement of the Earth’s tectonic plates following “a sudden slip on a fault. The tectonic plates are always slowly moving, but they get stuck at their edges due to friction. When the stress on the edge overcomes the friction, there is an earthquake that releases energy in waves that travel through the earth's crust and cause the shaking that we feel.”
The video below demonstrates what causes earthquakes.
Further, in general, women’s dress today covers much less than it used to; and the human population is much more than it used to be. Seismologists say that there has been no increase in earthquakes. Presumably, the increase in women dressing immodestly would have led to more earthquakes.
Since the science says otherwise, we rate this claim as false.
