Streaking

Streaking is the act of running, often naked, through a public area for publicity, as a prank, a dare, or a form of protest. Streaking is often associated with sporting events, but can occur in more secluded areas. Streakers are often pursued by sporting officials or the police.

Definitions and etymology

The word has been used in its modern sense only since the 1960s. Before that, ''to streak'' in English since 1768 meant "to go quickly, to rush, to run at full speed", and was a re-spelling of ''streek'': "to go quickly" (c.1380); this in turn was originally a northern Middle English variant of ''stretch'' (c. 1250).

In December 1973, a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota wrote to ''Time'' magazine that the term "streaking" was coined because the nude students ran primarily during the winter months of January and February, and "unless one appeared as a streak against the landscape, the Minnesota winter was triumphant and streaker became statue.""Letters", ''Time'', 31 December 1973. The school's newspaper, ''The Carletonian'', used the term "streaking" as early as 1967, but initially in negative terms: "Examples of arleton's social problemsare the large number of departing female students, the rise of class spirit, low grades, streaking, destruction, drinking, and the popularity of rock dances."

History

Historical forerunners of modern-day streakers include the neo- Adamites who travelled naked through towns and villages in medieval Europe, and the 17th-century Quaker Solomon Eccles, who went nude through the City of London with a burning brazier on his head. At 7:00 PM on 5 July 1799, a man was arrested at the Mansion House, London, and sent to the Poultry Compter. He confirmed that he had accepted a wager of 10 guineas (equal to £ today) to run naked from Cornhill to Cheapside.

Fines of between £10 and £50 were imposed on streakers by British and Irish magistrates in the early 1970s. The offences used for prosecution were typically minor, such as the violation of park regulations. Nevertheless, the chief law in force against streaking in England and Wales at that time remained the 16th-century vagrancy law, for which the punishment in 1550 had been whipping.

The first recorded incident of streaking by a college student in the United States occurred in 1804 at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) when senior George William Crump was arrested for running naked through Lexington, Virginia, where the university is located. Crump was suspended for the academic session, but later went on to become a U.S. Congressman.

In June 1973, the press reported on a "streaking" trend at Michigan State University. In December 1973, ''Time'' magazine called streaking "a growing Los Angeles-area fad" that was "catching on among college students and other groups". A letter writer responded, "Let it be known that streakers have plagued the campus police at Notre Dame for the past decade", pointing out that a group of University of Notre Dame students sponsored a "Streakers' Olympics" in 1972.

In February 1974, the press began calling it a "streaking epidemic." By the first week of March, college campuses across the country were competing to set streaking records. On March 11, 1974, several Americans imported streaking to Japan, where a series of copycat incidents occurred over the next month.

The prominence of streaking in 1974 has been linked both to the sexual revolution and a conservative backlash against feminism and the campus protests of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

On college campuses

Colleges and universities with documented traditions of campus streaking include the University of Chicago (Polar Bear run), Denison University (Naked Week), Oberlin College, Pennsylvania State University, Wellesley College, and Wheaton College (the "Kingdom Run").

Dartmouth College has two streaking-related challenges: The Ledyard Challenge, in which students swim naked across the Connecticut River and run nude back across the bridge, and the Blue Light Challenge, in which streaking students attempt to press the alarm on every one of the campus's blue light emergency phones. As of 2005, a Thursday Night Streaking Club regularly streaks at various events and public places.

In 1986, the University of Michigan's Naked Mile celebrated the last day of class with a group streak across campus along an approximate one-mile path. At the height of its popularity in the late 1990s, between 500 and 800 students participated, including several hundred females. Over 1,400 students participated one year and well over one thousand during another year. However, due to enforcement of public indecency laws and pressure from administration officials concerned about increasing spectator crowds and videotaping, participation declined. By 2001, a mere 24 students participated, signaling the effective end of the Naked Mile. Students were warned by college administrators that streakers would be arrested and required to register as sex offenders for life under Megan's Law.

The students at Union College held midnight "Pajama Parade" events in 1862, 1914 and several times in the 1950s. The real streaking tradition, which was nationally popular since 1973, arrived at the campus in the 1990s in the form of a nocturnal lap around the Nott Memorial known as the "Naked Nott Run."

To celebrate the school year's first night of heavy rainfall, a well-known tradition called "First Rain" is enacted at the University of California, Santa Cruz by students who for the entirety of the day to midnight, run around campus nearly or completely nude. Beginning at Porter, the run proceeds througho