Wet T-shirt contest
Encyclopedia
Exhibitionism
Exhibitionism refers to a desire or compulsion to expose parts of one's body – specifically the genitals or buttocks of a man or woman, or the breasts of a woman – in a public or semi-public circumstance, in crowds or groups of friends or acquaintances, or to strangers...
beauty contest
Beauty contest
A beauty pageant or beauty contest, is a competition that mainly focuses on the physical beauty of its contestants, although such contests often incorporate personality, talent, and answers to judges' questions as judged criteria...
that typically features young women performing at a nightclub, bar, or resort. They have traditionally been a staple of college spring break
Spring break
Spring break – also known as March break, Study week or Reading week in the United Kingdom and some parts of Canada – is a recess in early spring at universities and schools in the United States, Canada, mainland China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, the United...
celebrations at locations such as Daytona Beach and Cancún
Cancún
Cancún is a city of international tourism development certified by the UNWTO . Located on the northeast coast of Quintana Roo in southern Mexico, more than 1,700 km from Mexico City, the Project began operations in 1974 as Integrally Planned Center, a pioneer of FONATUR Cancún is a city of...
.
Contest participants generally wear white or lightly colored T-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
s, usually without bras
Brassiere
A brassiere is an undergarment that covers, supports, and elevates the breasts. Since the late 19th century, it has replaced the corset as the most widely accepted method for supporting breasts....
or other garments beneath. Water is then sprayed or poured onto the participants' chests to make their T-shirts turn translucent and cling to their breasts. Contestants may take turns to dance or pose before the audience, with the outcome decided either by crowd reaction or by the opinion of judges.
In more racy contests, participants may tear or crop their T-shirts to expose midriff
Midriff
Midriff is a particular term to denominate the section of the human body between the thorax/chest and the pelvis/hips. It is used as a genteel avoidance of synonymous belly ; as a synonym for waist; and as a name for the area around the diaphragm Midriff is a particular term to denominate the...
s, cleavage
Cleavage (breasts)
Cleavage, anatomically known as the intramammary cleft, is the space between a woman's breasts lying over the sternum. Cleavage is exposed by a garment with a low neckline, such as ball gowns, evening gowns, swimwear, casual tops and other garments....
, or the undersides of their breasts. Depending on local laws, participants may or may not be allowed to remove their T-shirts during their performance.
In-flight wet T-shirt contest
In 1998, teenagers from Portland, OregonPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, celebrating the completion of high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
held a wet T-shirt contest on a Boeing 727
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
to a Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
resort. A flight attendant
Flight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
encouraged the activity. An FAA
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
investigation 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.
Underage contestants
In 2002, teenager Monica Pippin brought a federal lawsuit against PlayboyPlayboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
Entertainment, Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. , is an American brewing company. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and 18 in other countries. It was, until December 2009, also one of America's largest theme park operators; operating ten theme parks across the United States through the...
, Deslin Hotels, Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
, 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 junior
Eleventh grade
Eleventh Grade is the eleventh, and for some countries final, grade of secondary schools. Students are typically 16 or 17 years of age, depending on the country and the students' birthdays.-Brazil:...
at Florida's Plant City High School
Plant City High School
The Plant City High School is a historic school in Plant City, Florida, United States. Built in 1914 on a design by Tampa based architect Willis R. Biggers, the current facility was established in 1972 on Maki Road and later designated with the address of 1 Raider Place.The original school site at...
. 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.
In a similar suit in 2007, two women sued Deslin Hotels, Girls Gone Wild
Girls Gone Wild
The Girls Gone Wild franchise, created by Joe Francis, is a video series by the production company Mantra Films, Inc., which is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.-Content:...
, and various websites that published footage of their appearance in another 2001 Daytona Beach contest. The two girls, who were both sixteen years old at the time, had been filmed exposing their breasts, buttocks, and vulvae, and touching each other's breasts in a suggestive manner. Like Pippin, they had lied about their age to gain admission to the contest.
Catherine Bosley
In 2003, Youngstown, OhioYoungstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, TV news anchor Catherine Bosley
Catherine Bosley
Catherine Bosley is an television news anchorwoman.Bosley was born in Lake County, Ohio, and graduated from Harbor High School, near Painesville, in 1985. She began working at age 17 at the local Hills Department Store as a cashier, staying there through her first year of college at Kent State...
caused some controversy by entering a wet T-shirt contest at a bar in Key West
Key West
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....
, during which she stripped and appeared fully nude. After footage of the competition was broadcast on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, as well as on a local television station, Bosley resigned. She is now a reporter and news anchor for WOIO
WOIO
WOIO, virtual channel 19 , is the CBS affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio. It is licensed to the nearby suburb of Shaker Heights. WOIO is owned by Raycom Media and its sister station to MyNetworkTV affiliate WUAB . The two stations share a studio facility in Cleveland and WOIO's transmitter is located in...
(CBS) in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
.
The wetlook
The Wetlook is the enjoyment of a person or people wearing wet clothing. It can also refer to the act of getting wet while wearing clothes, and having fun either in doing so or in watching others do it. To many, it is a sexual fetishSexual fetishism
Sexual fetishism, or erotic fetishism, is the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object, or from a specific situation. The object or situation of interest is called the fetish, the person a fetishist who has a fetish for that object/situation. Sexual fetishism may be regarded, e.g...
, where pleasure is derived from observation of wet-clothed persons as well as getting wet oneself, but other people enjoy getting wet themselves for entirely non-sexual reasons.
Many people enjoy the way wet clothing looks when molded to the body, as well as the way the clothing feels against the body when wet. Also, light colored clothing goes transparent when wet that many people find appealing and sexy. The clothing also has a sheen to them when wet as well as change color when wet.
Wetlook is often considered to be borne out of the idea that wearing clothes while swimming or bathing
Bathing
Bathing is the washing or cleansing of the body in a fluid, usually water or an aqueous solution. It may be practised for personal hygiene, religious ritual or therapeutic purposes or as a recreational activity....
is forbidden, improper, or nonconformist. Those who enjoy wetlook report discovering their enjoyment at an early age, as young as five years old. Usually happening from having a wetlook experience themselves, from observing someone else getting wet or getting wet themselves. Those enjoying wetlook do so in different ways - some enjoy the act of getting wet, while others enjoy remaining wet. Some enjoy getting wet slowly, while others like the surprise.
It can also refer to clothing that is shiny in appearance and thus is termed 'wet-look'.
See also
- WetWetWet may refer to:* The condition of being liquid or being covered in liquid* Adequately wet, environmental term referring to asbestos-containing material that is sufficiently mixed or penetrated with liquid to prevent the release of particulates...
- Aquaphilia (fetish)Aquaphilia (fetish)Aquaphilia also called hydrophilia is a form of sexual fetishism that involves images of people swimming or posing underwater, and sexual activity in or under water....
- SalirophiliaSalirophiliaSalirophilia is a sexual fetish or paraphilia that involves deriving erotic pleasure from soiling or disheveling the object of one's desire, usually an attractive person. It may involve tearing or damaging their clothing, covering them in mud or filth, or messing their hair or makeup...
- Wet sari sceneWet sari sceneWet sari scenes are an on-screen cliché in Hindi Cinema films, in which clothed actresses are depicted in wet saris that cling to their bodies. This functions as a proxy for nudity in mainstream Indian cinema, where nudity is taboo....
- Wet and messy fetishismWet and messy fetishismWet and messy fetish , is a form of sexual fetishism whereby a person becomes aroused when substances are deliberately and generously applied to the naked skin, predominantly the face, or to the clothes people are wearing...
- SpandexSpandexSpandex or elastane is a synthetic fibre known for its exceptional elasticity. It is strong, but less durable than natural Latex, its major non-synthetic competitor. It is a polyurethane-polyurea copolymer that was co-invented in 1959 by chemists C. L. Sandquist and Joseph Shivers at DuPont's...