A wet T-shirt contest is an exhibitionistic beauty contest that typically features young women performing at a nightclub, bar, or resort. They have traditionally been a staple of college spring break celebrations at locations such as Daytona Beach and Cancún.
Contest participants generally wear white or lightly colored T-shirts, usually without bras 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 midriffs, cleavage, 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.
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In 1998, teenagers from Portland, Oregon, celebrating the completion of high school held a wet T-shirt contest on a Boeing 727 to a Mexican resort. A flight attendant encouraged the activity. An FAA 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.[1]
In 2002, teenager Monica Pippin brought a federal lawsuit against Playboy 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 junior at Florida's Plant City High School. 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.[2]
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 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.[3]
In 2003, Youngstown, Ohio, TV news anchor Catherine Bosley caused some controversy by entering a wet T-shirt contest at a bar in Key West, during which she stripped and appeared fully nude. After footage of the competition was broadcast on the Internet, as well as on a local television station, Bosley resigned.[4] She is now a reporter and news anchor for WOIO (CBS) in Cleveland, Ohio.
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.[5] To many, it is a sexual fetish, 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.[5][6]
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 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.[5]
It can also refer to clothing that is shiny in appearance and thus is termed 'wet-look'.