top of page
Mooning is the act of exposing your buttocks to someone in order to insult or amuse them. It derives from the term- “moon” meaning “butt”, “rump” or “backside” that dates back to the 1700s. However, it has existed in one form or another for thousands of years. It seems the act of pulling down your trousers and just really, showing someone your arse carries an enduring appeal to people throughout the ages.
In antiquity mooning was used most commonly as a form of insult, for example, during the fourth crusade hundreds of victorious Byzantines were recorded showing their bums to fleeing Europeans. Can you imagine? Not only did your ass just get handed to you in battle, their asses then get handed to your eyes, on the top of a rampart, whilst being laughed at. It is hard to envisage a more acute or total humiliation.
The Great Byzantine Moon (a term coined right now, as we write) was not, however, the earliest known instance of mooning, which occurred more than a millennia prior. On a blisteringly hot day in the Middle East, a Roman soldier, whose name has sadly been lost to history, hoiked up his tunic and mooned passing pilgrims on their way to worship. He also, onlookers report, "spake such words as you might expect upon such a posture". The specifics of what he said that day have too been lost, but we imagine it was something along the lines of, “yaboo sucks look at my fucking hairy ass… Yeah! You like that? Bet you do!” Whatever his exact words, the provocation lead to a mass riot and the deaths of over 30,000 people...
So you know, powerful stuff.
The function of mooning however is not solely to insult, it can also be used to inspire contemporaries and stand up to power. For example, more recently in 2000, a “Moon Against the Monarchy” event was organized outside Buckingham Palace by a group of anarchists. Their goal was to end the constitutional monarchy in the United Kingdom, and even though only four people turned up instead of the planned two thousand, even a single butt cheek, aimed with sufficient venom at the King of a nation can, say some, hit its target with the power and devastation of a bullet.
Whilst reading this you may find yourself inspired to pull your own trousers down and show your butt cheeks to an innocent onlooker. And for that we applaud you. But before you do, you might wonder to yourself… “hang on, if I start mooning left right and center, would I be arrested and lose my job as someone who no doubt works in advertising, given that I’m reading this crap on the website of a creative team” Well, wonder you may. The legality, or illegality we should say, of mooning is still subject to fierce debate, and varies wildly depending on where you are in the world.
For example, whip out your sweet cheeks in Victoria, Australia and you could find yourself with a one way ticket to jail-town, whereas in Canada you can moon aboot town to your heart’s content. Part of the reason for this discrepancy comes from variation in the definition of an arse as a “gentital”. Most nations agree that the buttocks, crack and anus are not, but even if there was unanimous agreement on this question, when mooning you always run the risk of some “balls through the legs” action. If that happens, you’ve just gone from a harmless joker showing your bum to a friend, to a registered sex offender showing the general public your testicles. We recommend tucking your balls, if you have them, in front of your legs, then keeping your legs tightly shut before mooning, to ensure no testicular slippage occurs.
Whatever the fine print on mooning, and the degree to which it’s a punishable offense, this is undoubtedly part of why we moon. It’s an act that lives, indeed that thrives, in the cracks and crevices of permissibility. It’s something that invites shock, outrage, offense and reprobation. That asks questions, challenges authority, amuses a friend or even topples a government. So, dear reader, the next time you feel an itch, (and by this we mean the type of itch that can only be truly scratched by you getting out your hams in public), then unzip that fly, pull those pantaloons down and bare all.
bottom of page