Awet T-shirt contest is a competition involvingexhibitionism, typically in the form of a stage show featuring young female contestants[1] at a nightclub, bar, or resort. Wet T-shirt contestants generally wear thin white or light-colored T-shirts without bras, 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 their breasts. The comparatively rarer male equivalent is thewet boxer contest, sometimes held atgay bars.[2][full citation needed][3][4] In straight venues, contests involving men competing in wetbriefs act more as a form of comedic entertainment.[1]
Contestants typically take turns dancing or posing before the audience, with the outcome decided either by crowd reaction[1] or by judges' vote. In racier contests, participants may tear or crop their T-shirts to expose their midriffs, 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.
Wet T-shirt contests first appeared in the 1970s in the United States.[1][a] FilmmakerDick Barrymore claims in his memoirBreaking Even to have held the first wet T-shirt contest atSun Valley, Idaho's Boiler Room Bar in January 1971, as part of a promotion forK2 skis.[7] 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,Vermont in order to film it, despite the fact that Stowe City Council had passed a resolution banning nudity at the event.[8] He held another promotional contest for K2 on 10 March 1971 atAspen, Colorado'sThe Red Onion restaurant and bar,[7][9] and the contests were featured in a pictorial in the March 1972 issue ofPlayboy.[10]
The first known mention of the termwet T-shirt contest in the press occurred in 1975 inThe Palm Beach Post, describing the contest's appearance at New Orleans discotheques. The contest subsequently became established atspring break events inFort Lauderdale, Florida, with some bar owners being fined underpublic indecency laws for holding one.[11][6] 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 Tape under their T-shirts as required by the police.[12]
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.[5] OnFrank Zappa's 1979 albumJoe's Garage the track "Fembot in a Wet T-Shirt" tells of Mary fromCanoga Park who 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.[13]
By the 1990s wet T-shirt contests had become common atspring break celebrations, for example in Miami and Mexico.[1] The 2003 Americanreality filmThe Real Cancun included a wet T-shirt contest.[14] In the 21st century the organisers of wet T-shirt contests often ban the audience from taking photographs as the combination of smartphone cameras and social media can cause problems for contestants, such as the loss of their jobs. Nevertheless, by the mid-2010s wet T-shirt contests were on the decline in the United States and they are often seen as outdated.[1]
In 1983, theKing & Spalding law 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 competition and the winner was promised a permanent job on graduation.[15] Some participants said they felt humiliated but did not protest because they were candidates for jobs with the firm.The Wall Street Journal included details of the event in a front-page article on sex discrimination in large law firms.[16] The fact that a wet T-shirt contest was proposed led to the case being used to demonstrate institutional sexism in law firms.[17]
In 1998, teenagers fromPortland, Oregon, celebrating the completion of high school held a wet T-shirt contest on aBoeing 727 en route to a Mexican resort, with a flight attendant encouraging the activity. AnFAA 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.[18]
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.[19][20]
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.[21]
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