An eye for an eye
Monday, September 19, 2005Walking home from work is usually a very mundane affair - pop into the shops to get some munchie goodness, watch the teenagers playing football under floodlights, avoid the scary pub, nod at the couple of cheeky kids opposite the stadium, get onto my road, put the key in the door, etc.
At no point in my daily journey do I expect to see some creepy bloke in the nip at his bedroom window pleasuring himself for the whole world to see. But there he was - unashamedly gripping his todger and smugly glaring out into the street. It was about 7pm last Wednesday, when it was still quite light - evidently this was more arousing for him than Emmerdale or Channel 4 News.
The little reaction-inducers in my head thought I should do the following things:
- Point and laugh, and then wave my little finger aloft
- Hurl abuse and then run away
- Walk away calmly as though nothing happened whilst feeling incredibly grim about the whole thing
Now I’m pretty shy and obviously the consequences of 1 and 2 became clear to me from the outset, so I hurried down the road to my house.
Then I started to worry about the kids around the corner. Will they think it’s funny? Or acceptable behaviour? Will they be scarred for life? Will they just throw things?
So I decided to trawl the net, and according to Section 66 of the Sex Offences act 2003:
ExposureA person commits an offence if-
- (a) he intentionally exposes his genitals, and
- (b) he intends that someone will see them and be caused alarm or distress.
(more for the curious here, thanks to Naturist newsletter website)
I haven’t reported yet it to the police. Should I? Should I wait and see if it happens again? Maybe I’m the last witness they need to convict him? And would I be comfortable with that? Bleurgh.
I’d be inclined to ignore it, as one of those weird London things. Anyway, in a few weeks we’ll all be depressed about how it’s dark before even leaving work.
sasSeptember 20th, 2005 at 9:35 am
Personally, I’d probably ignore it unless it happened again, although if it keeps playing on your mind you should report it now - it might make you feel better.
EdithSeptember 20th, 2005 at 9:39 am
If he’s that blase, it’s probably not the first, or last, time for him. The risks you posed for children are real. I think I’d report it for my peace of mind and the children’s safety. If you keep one kid from literally being exposed to that, *that* should be comfortable with.
LeeSeptember 20th, 2005 at 11:16 am
I’d say report him if you see him doing it again, definitely. However it is an entirely inappropriate and pretty gross thing to do so perhaps he does need reporting now as who in their right mind would do that in front of a window? Once a drunk on a train seated opposite me started wanking off which was possibly the worst experience of my life (I was alone, and in Paris, and it was getting dark), so if by reporting it you save others from similar nasty experiences then it’ll be worth it.
PennySeptember 20th, 2005 at 3:30 pm
Sorry Simon — I didn’t think you’d be looking.
benSeptember 21st, 2005 at 11:49 am
You can probably report it anonymously and ease your worries… then the police might observe his place for a while first, to confirm the report before acting on it.
emmaSeptember 21st, 2005 at 2:49 pm
I’ve reported men getting their todgers out about a foot away from me when I’ve been waiting at remote bus stops for the last bus home; that’s obviously a bit more threatening than some bloke at his window..
If you felt it was unacceptable, report it anonymously, like Emma said. They’ll probably tell any police passing to keep an eye out, and when they spot him they’ll go and have a nice “chat”
sarahSeptember 21st, 2005 at 3:03 pm
Really annoying things , i can admit to put “in front of ” such view . If the guy really wants to shock other people , one can shout in front of him to see how he reacts , if he ’s out of his conscience he could of course go on if i can say
but anyway we could know at least he could have some cares to be provided with so a Mental Health Dedicated Services or on the other hand if he immediatlely stops that could be understood as he is not so insane and he should know that his best attitude should be to stop that (as he ‘ll know that you could tell some Authority like the police …) If you choose to report it for now , i think that’ s a bit annoying (imho) but i can agree with Edith’s and Penny ’s points of view…
Good luck
Steph
PS : Sorry to put that here Simon :(:(, but may i ask you a favour as i ‘ve got one thing to say to Sarah (i know her for ages … , Thanks in advance !
Please Sarah, Could you contact me by email (you’ve got my usual addy or any other ones too i think) , i ‘ve just sent a message for you but with your special antispam robot , i am not sure you’ll be able to read it ”
Thank you Simon
and sorry for the inconvenience …
stephSeptember 22nd, 2005 at 2:29 pm
Simon, judging by the title of this particular item, if you looked closely enough to see his ‘eye’, you are just as bad as he was. Be told!
RussellSeptember 24th, 2005 at 8:10 pm
I didn’t look *that* closely!! It’s just that, y’know, hypothetically it was on view…
SimonSeptember 25th, 2005 at 12:28 pm