sexual equality...hmm
Naked man in own garden, seen by female neighbour = prosecution of man for public exposure/indecency
Naked female in own garden, seen by male neighbour = prosecution of man for voyeurism/peeping-tom
Hmmm...
Nude trampolinist bounces free from court
A 55-year-old described by the BBC as a 'man' and by Scotland's Daily Record as a 'pervert' has avoided jail after being spotted by neighbours having too much fun with too few clothes on a trampoline. James Burden of Falkirk, a man of apparently hardy stock, was having a jolly good jump around on the apparatus in his back …
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Friday 30th July 2010 22:56 GMT Trevor_Pott
@AC
Actually, I believe the challenge is to fins a woman who has had a man arrested for looking at her jumping naked on a trampoline. (Any other event in which the woman in question chooses to display herself in public would probably be an acceptable stand in.) We are not talking about a woman having a man arrested who went out of his way to sneak a peek of her nude, but having a man arrested for sneaking a peek whilst she was nude in a public space.
I suspect a lady jumping nude on a trampoline would get into some trouble, whilst the guy enjoying the scenery would get a verbal warning. The interesting question in my mind is what the average sentences for similar crimes perpetrated by members of different genders under the same circumstances would be, and if there was an actual difference. In my mind, this is research worth funding if for no other reason than to dispel myths one way or the other. (And if disparity exists, to start to combat it.) Anecdotally, I cal tell you that where I live there is a huge judicial gender disparity for certain crimes where I live. Sarah is adamant that the same isn’t true where she lives.
All threads such as this one, without proper research, are simply pointless because there isn’t anything beyond cynicism or anecdotal evidence to back any of it up.
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Saturday 31st July 2010 19:27 GMT Anonymous Coward
@Trever
Well, I know of three other people trying to post examples citing cases that have been raised, but their posts are getting rejected (funny enough my own got rejected then accepted then rejected again).
The thing is when you get asked for proof you'd like to show it. When you are not permitted to - even though you cite cases and can prove your statements - they get quashed quickly. Fear of the truth is a terrible thing.
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Monday 2nd August 2010 09:09 GMT Anonymous Coward
Non-specific but undeniable example
Women have avoided jail by the mere fact of being pregnant. Some women facing jail will knowingly get pregnant to avoid a jail sentence. I don't know of a single case where a man has been dealt with leniently for either being pregnant or for getting someone pregnant.
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Monday 2nd August 2010 09:21 GMT Sarah Bee
Re: Non-specific but undeniable example
This argument has now reached the top three of the most annoying, tedious, cyclical Reg thread arguments. Can you resolve it once and for all or just give it a goddamn rest? You may have good points (nb the operative word being 'may') but it gets perilously close to woman-bashing the longer it goes on.
There should be a gender-issue equivalent of Godwin's... Dorkins'? The longer a gender-related argument goes on, the greater the chance of someone invoking Andrea Dorkins?
(NB No I don't bloody agree with her.)
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Monday 2nd August 2010 10:17 GMT Anonymous Coward
@Sarah
You asked for examples, don't complain if they don't suit you. It's not woman bashing, a label I greatly take offence at as I have on numerous occasions stepped in to physically protect a woman from aggression.
There is no "may" about it, these links should assuage your doubt.
http://tinyurl.com/pregnant-jail-1
http://tinyurl.com/pregnant-jail-2
http://tinyurl.com/pregnant-jail-3
http://tinyurl.com/pregnant-jail-4
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Monday 2nd August 2010 09:11 GMT Anonymous Coward
as a matter of fact
I disagree, - this thread is an exemplary example of what how the reg adds value to i t news - the story generated an excellent head and sub head, and the reg has done its' own research in identifying a source showing females trampolining in the required manner.
I myself as the a/c above did indeed do a quick internet search before posting to inform my comment as I would never pronounce on such important issues as the potential gender bias in the legal consequences of nude trampolining without having some idea of what the global perspective is on the subject.
If you feel that there is a lot of pointlessness in your life perhaps you should turn to drink?
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Sunday 1st August 2010 18:58 GMT M Gale
Re: And, prsy tell me Sheriff, are Scotsmen ...
I suppose that when they are on a trampoline then yes, they would.
Just picture it. A freeze frame, just after the apex of the bounce, on the way back down again as the whole thing billows upward in a Monroe-esque manner.
Now I bet you wish you hadn't.
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Friday 30th July 2010 12:57 GMT Anonymous Coward
he just wants to f**k you.
White knight much?
Anywho, this crazy sexual deviant got let off.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/5014450.stm
Please actually read the article. She was not in her BACK garden but strolling down a shared driveway. Sure she wasn't actually visibly masturbating but still, there's no reason to walk, nude.. knowing you are in plain sight of your neighbours. How can anyone fail to realise that this could be offensive?
I think she's either mentally deficient or the though of being seen gets her wet..
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Friday 30th July 2010 12:14 GMT Anonymous Coward
Nothing...
...indicates that he was being a dick as far as neighbors go, trimming the grass with loud lawnmowers at 4:00am or listening to loud music.
1. "You should do it on spring". He got it wrong.
2. Who was having a dick time? He or the neighbor?
PS. Having a nice time with the missus on trampoline should be really interesting. Gonna try it sometime. If I ever find a trampoline.
Mine is the trenchcoat. The one with "insert pervert here" written inside.
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Friday 30th July 2010 15:06 GMT F111F
What The....AHHHHHHH MY EYES!
I suspect with one glance the image was permanently ingrained in his neighbor's retina. Reconstructing via Playmobile could risks secondary effects like mass temporary blindness, a dramatic increase in calls to the fire department from smokers attempting to have imitation trampoline sex in their bedrooms, etc. No, I think this one is best just left to the imagination.
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Friday 30th July 2010 12:22 GMT Anonymous Coward
Sex offenders register?
Wasn't that for people who, you know, actually committed sex-related offences?
I mean, yes, poor judgement to have a good toss and bounce at five am and expecting nobody to be around to spot you in your own back yard as opposed to, I don't know, parliament square at noon. But does that warrant putting a massive "sex mark" on someone ensuring he'll be branded for life and will have to fess up to this event every time he's looking for a job, gets a parking ticket, whatever?
This is function creep, making the register creepier than all the people on it together. And though not all are that creepy*, there are some righteous creepy people on it. Even the Victorians weren't that creepy.
Thus, this sort of blacklist I can't help but feel is yet another overarching database that is doing more harm than good. Besides, it was pretty superfluous already if you assume that the judicial system works as it should. Which, true or false, either way, is pretty damning on the people running that show.
* Is the guy who thought he'd had good fun with a 16yo only she turned out to be only 10, and _the judge agreed with him_ that she looked mature enough to be mistaken, really such a criminal that he deserves to be on that list? Well, he is, for life. So to be sure to stay off, what do we now do, ask your friend for the night for an ID card before? What?
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Friday 30th July 2010 15:57 GMT Anonymous Coward
*Ten*.
ISTR she was present in the court room, and he'd picked her up at some bar. So even if he didn't spot the obvious because he was a bit tipsy, then perhaps the presumably sober doorman, if any, should've noticed. Or any of the other patrons, or personnel, wondering what a girl of 10 was doing in a bar past the watershed. So perhaps it wasn't obvious after all.
Not something that you'd expect or happens that often, but that doesn't make it impossible. I recall she didn't want to press charges, didn't even want to tell her parents, but they, ah, disagreed after they figured it out afterward.
Can't find the article though, natch.
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Friday 30th July 2010 12:28 GMT Anonymous Coward
sex offenders register
The sex offenders register isn't worth the paper it's printed on for protecting people.
Just a tool the powers at be can use to ruin your life.
But i'm glad I'm safe from people having sex with their bikes in a locked room and men masterbating in on their own trampoline at 5am.
Stupid world we live in run by ----s
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Friday 30th July 2010 12:23 GMT blackworx
Ah the Daily Record...
...The only rag that regularly pulls off (sorry) the feat of managing to be more reactionary, self-righteous, puritanical and downright hypocritical than the Daily Mail.
Of our protagonist all I can say is I'm not surprised - he is after all from Falkirk. This is the town that suffered a heroin epidemic shortly after a major bust caused the local cannabis supply to dry up.
IIRC central Scotland was experiencing a bit of a warm spell round about March. Of course when I say "warm spell" I mean comparatively speaking and I am in no way attempting to detract from Mr. Burden's exploits.
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Friday 30th July 2010 12:23 GMT Cameron Colley
Disgusting and abhorrent behaviour!
To march into a man's property and incarcerate him then potentially ruin his job prospects for the rest of his life, and to lump him in with people who rape children just because he wanted to have a little fun in his own garden is the work of a sick society. I hope the scum who did this get what they deserve.
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Friday 30th July 2010 12:26 GMT the spectacularly refined chap
You could call him a disgusting pervert...
...or equally just a harmless eccentric. What real damage has been done? So he had a jolly on a trampoline. So what? His neighbour spotted him but it sounds unintentional, indeed he has taken some precautions to prevent being spotted.
Regardless of any offence that may have been caused he has surely paid more than high enough a price by the simple embarassment of this being dragged to court. Being placed on the sex offender's register and given probation seems disproportionate on top of that.
I was going to say a simple discharge would have been more appropriate but then I noticed the unavoidable double entendre which will no doubt amuse many here.
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Friday 30th July 2010 12:52 GMT Tron
Prudes.
If he'd have been playing deafeningly loud music, the police wouldn't have bothered.
If his kids had been vandalising the neighbourhood , the police wouldn't have bothered.
And if his cat had been crapping in his neighbour's garden, the police wouldn't have bothered.
So, your neighbours can ruin your sleep, drive you insane with noise, let their kids run riot and allow their pets to leave crap in your garden that can cause blindness to toddlers. But a bit of early morning monkey spanking on a trampoline when you'd assume your neighbours are asleep brings down the wrath of the law and gets you banned from half the jobs out there.
Pathetic.
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Friday 30th July 2010 15:56 GMT blackworx
Re: What is it with the Scots?
Lol that one is a classic - "A man, also believed to have been naked, was also checked over at the scene but was uninjured. Grampian Police said the incident was being investigated".
They get extra nutcase points for it being Aberdeen, but have points deducted for it not being March.
Lots of tenements and town houses in Scotland have double-peaked roofs with fairly easy access. Great places to go if you want a bit of peace and quiet. I've also heard (ahem) that they can be especially attractive for partying purposes - clothed or unclothed - after a few midsummer shandies.
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Friday 30th July 2010 15:59 GMT Subliteratus
Alarm and distress? Really?
If I woke up at 5am, looked out my window and saw some oldster giving it the beans on a trampoline out the back I'd pee myself laughing. The complainant must have had a way sheltered life - so sheltered it's amazing that she even knew what she was looking at.
Of course, given the Daily Record's tendency to rip the arse out of any story with even a hint that social orthodoxy has been transgressed, and a large section of the Scottish population (I'm Scottish btw - glad to be out of it right now) willing to believe their inflammatory proclamations are holy writ, it's amazing this guy wasn't chemically castrated and sectioned.
A spank on the wrist from the coppers would have done the job, not an entry in the sex offenders register. And what ever happened to mens rea?
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Saturday 31st July 2010 19:27 GMT Jonas Taylor
Really?
This man was added to the Sex Offenders Register for being naked in his own back yard. Really? The MOST that this deserves is a caution; and I can't help but feel a simple friendly warning would have sufficed. Our legal system has completely lost the plot. If the guy was doing this repeatedly in front of children or neighbours then it would be a completely different matter but this is a disgusting abuse of the law.
What the hell happened to common sense?
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