Mooning is the act of displaying one's bare buttocks by removing clothing, e.g., by lowering the backside of one's trousers and underpants, usually bending over, whether also exposing the genitals or not. Mooning is used mostly in the English-speaking world to express protest, scorn, disrespect, or provocation but can also simply be done for shock value or fun. Mooning may be considered indecent exposure, depending on jurisdiction and context.

Word history

Moon has been a common shape-metaphor for the buttocks in English since 1743, and the verb to moon has meant 'to expose to (moon)light' since 1601.^{[citation needed]} As documented by McLaren, "'mooning', or exposing one's ass to shame an enemy [...] had a long pedigree in peasant culture" throughout the Middle Ages, and in many nations.^[1] Formerly, "mooning" was slang for "wandering idly" and "romantically pining."^[2]

In Chilean Spanish, the act of mooning is known as cara pálida, lit. "Paleface".

Legal status

The legal position of mooning varies between jurisdictions, from indecent exposure to legal self-expression. Some example cases include:

Zimbabwe

Two brothers of Zimbabwean descent were charged and jailed for indecent exposure in 2006, for wearing traditional African loinclothes which leave the buttocks exposed.^[3] Whilst not strictly mooning, it illustrates the legal view on mooning in that country. The BBC reports that whilst this "reignited" a debate, "not many people in the capital are on their side".

Senegal

Patrick Devine, 19, from County Donegal, Ireland was arrested on 27 July 2007 for allegedly dropping his trousers as a dare in Saint Louis in Senegal. Devine, a student of Queens University Belfast, spent one month in jail for his alleged actions.^[4]

Greece

A 2003 case saw two British tourists convicted and fined €920 each on indecent exposure charges.^[5]

United States

In 2006, a Maryland state circuit court determined that mooning is a form of artistic expression protected by the United States constitutional right of freedom of speech.^[6][7] The court ruled that indecent exposure only relates to exposure of the genitals, adding that even though mooning was a "disgusting" and "demeaning" act to engage in, and had in addition taken place in the presence of a minor, "If exposure of half of the buttocks constituted indecent exposure, any woman wearing a thong at the beach at Ocean City would be guilty."

Defense attorneys had cited a 1983 case of a woman who was arrested after protesting in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building wearing nothing but a cardboard sign that covered the front of her body. In that case, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals had ruled that indecent exposure is limited to a person's genitalia. No review of the case by a higher court took place since prosecutors dropped the case after the ruling.

In California, an appellate court found in 2000 that mooning does not constitute indecent exposure (and, therefore, does not subject the defendant to sex offender registration laws) unless it can be proven beyond reasonable doubt that the conduct was sexually motivated.^[8]

Notable incidents of mooning

• In 80, Flavius Josephus recorded the first known incident of mooning. Josephus recorded that in 66 AD, at around the beginning of the First Roman–Jewish War, a Roman soldier mooned Jewish pilgrims on their way to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, causing a riot, an over-response by the Roman military, and the deaths of thousands of pilgrims.^[9][10]
• In the Siege of Constantinople in 1204, the Greeks exposed their bare buttocks to the Crusaders after they repulsed them from the walls.^[11][12]
• During the Battle of Crécy in 1346 when king Edward III of England took Caen, on the way to Crécy, several hundred Norman soldiers "exposed their backsides to the English archers and many of them paid a high price for doing so."^[13][14]
• The Etchemin tribe of Maine were noted for this custom by a number of early explorers of the Atlantic coastline.^[15]
• On November 22, 1987, an intruder interrupted the broadcast signal of Chicago PBS affiliate, WTTW with a strange video of himself dressed to resemble Max Headroom. At one point in the video, the man exposes his buttocks to the camera before being spanked with a flyswatter by an accomplice.^[16]
• Pauly Shore first mooned on film in Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge (1989) as his character, Buzz, tricks a mall guard into leaving his booth.^[17][18]
• In June 2000, a mass mooning event was organised outside of Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom 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.^[19]
• The Annual Mooning of Amtrak is a long-running annual tradition in Laguna Niguel, (Orange County) California, United States, where many people spend all day mooning at Amtrak trains;^[20] some even ride the trains on that day just so they can witness the event. This mooning has spawned a chain of "train moonings" throughout the entire country.^[21] On July 13, 2008, local authorities cracked down on the practice after a reported 8,000 people participated in the festivities.^[22][23]. However, the festival still continues annually, albeit more police supervision.^[24]
• In the 2003 World Athletics Final in Monaco, Tim Lobinger mooned the crowd on the podium after winning the pole vault. He faced a $5,000 US dollar fine from his winnings by the IAAF for the stunt.^[25]
• At the 2005 UK Music Hall of Fame awards ceremony, musician Ozzy Osbourne mooned the crowd after a set he played with his group Black Sabbath.^[26]
• English Premiership footballer Joey Barton was fined £2,000 for mooning Everton fans.^[27]
• A tradition of Appalachian Trail thru-hikers Mooning the Cog has developed on Mount Washington in New Hampshire.^[28]
• On January 9, 2005, Randy Moss of the Minnesota Vikings pretended to moon Green Bay Packers fans following a touchdown he scored. He was fined $10,000 by the NFL for the incident.^[29]
• At the Patch Adams Full Moon Festival three-day event to raise money for his Gesundheit Institute! and Albuquerque, 200,000 people pay $100 each to moon as a group and lend a hand with local projects. Adams quote: "Bring your butts."^[30] In 2001, Dr. Adams and the UCSD student body president both mooned the audience at that year's UC commencement ceremony.^[31][32][33]
• On 10 May 2007 Yvette Fielding pulled a moonie out a Soho restaurant window on the final episode of ITV2 reality television programme Deadline after being dared by Dom Joly.^[34][35]
• On the 24th of October, 2011, economic inequality protester Liam Warriner of Sydney ran alongside the motorcade of Queen Elizabeth II and a waving Prince Phillip for 50 metres with an Australian flag clenched between his exposed buttocks, before being accosted by police.^[36]

Popular culture

• In Hey Arnold, Harold, Sid, and Stinky Peterson moon Principal Warts. The incident results in Arnold being blamed for the crime due to Warts' poor eyesight.

• In King of the Hill, Hank, Dale, Bill, and Boomhaur do this on an elevator.

• In SLC Punk, Heroin Bob does this to an elderly couple while Steve-O and him were trying to purchase beer.

• Bart Simpson of The Simpsons often moons at other people.