Reason for woman to destroy her own clothes
 

For a story I'm writing I've been at a standstill for a long time over a scene I had planned and then realized it just wasn't feasible. I need a reason why a woman might choose to destroy her own clothes when the alternative is worse.

The original idea I had was that she's driving through mountainous terrain and her car's engine overheats. Having nothing handy to cool the engine, she would remove her clothes to soak them in a nearby stream in order to get the water to the engine. The problem of course is that would be very dangerous, with a high chance of her being scalded and possibly irreparably damaging the engine block.

So I'm looking for something along that line but with less risk of physical harm; but it needs to be important enough that she's willing to lose her clothes in the process.

Any ideas given must be given freely with no expectation of compensation. Thank you.

Sir Render
i_am_sirrender@yahoo.com

Well if we're going for something realistic, then the only thing I can think of is that the clothes are plagued/infected with a bug of some kind that she has to get rid of to stop them from spreading (by burning the clothes I guess).
Or the women might have made a campfire but doesn't have any firewood so she uses her clothes as fuel (it would be the question of why she's wearing flammable clothes in the first place).

Surprisingly hard thing to come up with.

I have no expectation of compensation for this freely offered suggestion:

There's the classic itching powder idea...

How about smart water.
 

Not really like your original idea.

If she broke in somewhere and she got a little bit on her clothes, she would have to destroy the clothing or it would be traced back to her. She wouldn't want to get it on her car or skin.

Smartw*ter is a proprietary forensic asset marking system that is applied to personal, commercial, and industrial items of value to deter theft and to identify culprits for prosecution. The non-hazardous liquid leaves a long-lasting and unique identifier that is invisible to the naked eye except under an ultraviolet black light. The Smartw*ter anti-criminal system is marketed globally by Smartw*ter Technology Ltd.

I could think of a number of reasons, but I'd need more context from your story to suggest sensible ones.

Here are a couple:
She's afraid of a bee, which got under her clothes and needs to strip them off to free it (an ancient theme known as 'Dance of the bee')

She's very germ phobic and he clothes are 'gross'. For example when sitting on a toilet, her panties and/or skirt touches something gross on the floor.

Biker is always a good place to start for ideas. For example, the clothes could be possessed :)

hxxp://forum.oneclickchicks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2195343&d=1279093071

The forum with the full series: hxxp://forum.oneclickchicks.com/showthread.php?t=93271&highlight=leotard

I have no expectation of compensation for this freely offered suggestion:
How about this? The woman robs a bank. While checking the money one of those ink packets they place in money explodes all over her. She's worried about getting caught so she has to destroy the evidence: the money and her clothes!
This could also happen on the road, so she'd have to be driving naked in fear of the police pulling her over. Or she could abandon her car and clothes and set off naked on foot.

I know jack-fuckall about the inner workings of cars, but... maybe there's a fluid leak in a hose somewhere that she needs to patch up, and the only thing she has available is her own clothing? If the problem gets worse as she goes along, she could end up sacrificing multiple articles of wear, while still holding out the faint hope that maybe she will make it to a mechanic with at least a little of her modesty still intact. It's not a huge sacrifice at first, but the more it goes on, the more she has invested in not getting stranded (because she can no longer put the ruined articles back on), so the more clothing she's willing to shed.

(Free idea, given away freely, for free.)

jack-fuckall - is he still writing?

What if the woman is a nurse out clubbing in a tiny dress. She comes across a seriously injured person and needs to create a bandage or tourniquet. With no other choice, she uses her dress for material to save the other person's life.

In the same boat
 

I'm in the same boat, I'm afraid. It seemed like such a good idea when I came up with then, then rationality set in and I did research and everyone says NEVER put cold water directly on a hot engine and NEVER open the radiator filler cap while it's hot. So now I'm scrounging for other ideas.

All the ideas here were good, but only a couple will work in the context of the story I'm writing. To lend more context (I should have done from the start) the woman is in a Cannonball Run style point-to-point race. She must reach the checkpoint before her competitors, and there's already an element of stripping and lewd conduct built into the race. I just needed a reason (and a good explanation why) for her to intentionally destroy her own clothes.

Seph, your idea was brilliant but it still leaves me with the physical danger to herself if she tries to pour that water into the hot engine.

Rojoa, I believe I saw that in an old Playboy video from the 80s. Ahh the wonderful 80s. :-)

If it doesn't have to be a rational reason, then with the car not working the air con wouldn't be either and she could get more and more hot and bothered and angry with her situation until she just snaps and rips her clothes off and up in a fit of pique. Once she's calmed down a bit, she'd of course realise the situation she's left herself in.

If you want a rational, thought out reason for taking off her clothes it's a little more difficult. I can think of a number of reasons for her to have removed her clothes but as for ripping them up... maybe she's not on a road, being on an off road section of the race; she needs to walk back to the road for help but the only way she can think of to mark her way back to the car is to rip pieces off her clothes and leave them as markers. Exactly how far she'd have to go and therefore 'how far she'd have to go' would be up to you.;)

Ideas freely given with no expectations of any kind, including compensation.

What about if she takes a bend too sharply and hits a tree head on. Not hard enough to be injured but the front bumper is hanging down. She is not strong enough to pull it off but it is scraping the ground. It needs to be held up in more than one place so she shreds her clothes to be able to tie it up in multiple places to continue. I offer this idea freely with no request for compensation.

You are told not to open the radiator cap not because of the car (if the radiator has overheated then most likely the damage is already done) but to protect yourself from being scalded.

If you really had to open a boiling radiator you would do it by putting a heavy cloth over the cap, turn it and quickly run away. You will hear "phshhhht" and then the water will spray everywhere. Idea is to deflect the hot water downwards rather than up all over you.

Sounds like a good idea for her to remove more than 1 article of clothing :) .

This suggestion offered freely, no compensation expected.

Windshield Washer Fluid
 

What about if she was driving in muddy windy conditions and her car ran out of windshield washer fluid. She was forced to wipe down the windshield with her clothes before they're torn away by the wind leaving her exposed.

That works well with the Cannonball Run theme. She can't slow down because of the race. If I remember correctly the hotties in those movies tended to wear one-piece jumpsuits as well :)

opening radiator
 

Indeed. :-)

jm6379, at a guess, how much time would one tend to have to get out of the way after removing the radiator cap before they were covered in boiling liquid? I mean, if she had no other choice but to sit out the rest of the race with a conked out car. I wouldn't think she'd have more than a second or two to run like hell.

My suggestions are offered for free.

You are right, about 1-2 seconds at best.

Artistic license is okay, Artistic license is good
 

Heh, sorry I didn't catch on to that. You make a good point, though. It's not like this story is particularly grounded in reality anyway. heheh I like how the ENF turns out to be unnecessary in the end with this spin on it. I may owe you a chicken dinner (as in winner winner ;)).

Why not have the women put her wet clothes onto the engine to cool it, rather than have her put the water from her clothes into the engine. Her clothes could end up damaged after doing this several times.

Alternative the woman could be lost and burns her clothes to try and attract the attention of someone nearby (this will only work in locations with no flammable materials). This idea is based on a jogger who got lost in the desert and burned his bags to try and attract the attention of a helicopter.

Disclaimer: my suggestions are free.

If you can track down a nice little story by Meepo the Kobbold about one of his characters discovering Phlogiston, you could construct something around the notion that someone trying to handle the stuff is careless, it cathes her sleeve or something, and since sheknows what will happen if she fails to act, she starts to cut bits of material away, or rips it.