Those participating in the No Pants Subway Ride over the weekend may have gotten some strange looks from fellow commuters as they stripped down to their skivvies for the 13th annual performance art event.
The brainchild of
Improv Everywhere, the No Pants Subway Ride started as a prank by a group of seven friends in New York City in 2002. Now an international pseudo-holiday and worldwide movement, this year's Ride attracted 4,000 participants in New York alone, with more joining in from 60 cities in more than 25 countries.
A lack of pants on the subway could be seen as a funny prank, sure, but isn't it also pretty gross? That's what first came to mind for many germ-conscious people,
prompting a LiveScience.com investigation into the perils of a pants-less subway ride.
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But Dr. Aaron Glatt, an infectious diseases specialist and president of St. Joseph Hospital in Bethpage, N.Y., said there's not much to worry about.
"It depends what they do there on the subway without their pants on," Glatt told LiveScience.com. "If they're just sitting on the subway, then it's not a problem… It's really not that much different from wearing shorts."
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