Why do women flash on Mardi Gras?

It's 'Fat Tuesday,' the international holiday where women flash their breasts for cheap iridescent beads. Apparently this is something we've been doing since 1889 on the balconies of Bourbon street (though others date it back only to the 1970s). Maybe back then the beads were of higher quality and the need for them was more pressing. But why are we still flashing?

One sociologist who interviewed what he described as "beadw----s" for the journal of Deviant Behavior, sites a rush of pleasure as the reason behind Mardi Gras flashing. He pegged the illegal "parade of stripping" as a "playful form of exhibitionism," according to Miller-McCune's website.

Relationship writer Rich Santos has a more dude-like take. He writes: "One night I was separated from my friends on a balcony, shaking beads at the girls in the street. These girls were desperate for beads, even though you could go into any store and buy the beads for a dollar...All the women who flashed were the same: over 25 and very drunk."

He's wrong about the age (see various Joe Francis underage Girls Gone Wild lawsuits), but public intoxication may be a major factor. Another factor may have more to do with crowd theory: if everyone else wants one thing, you'll end up wanting it too. As one Mardi Gras reveler put it in Northwestern's student newspaper: "You have to trust me when I say a craze comes over you."

Sadly, it can lead to a sober moment the following day when you find yourself posting THIS question on YahooAnswers. Would you or have flashed during Mardi Gras?

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