"Another search warrant 'for pictures of his erect penis'"
July 9, 2014 4:08 PM   Subscribe

A 17 year-old Virginia teenager who is under investigation for sending a consensual sext to his 15-year-old girlfriend may be forced to have an erection in front of police as evidence in the case.

ThinkProgress: University of Pennsylvania law professor David Rudovsky, who specializes in invasions of privacy by police, doubts that there is legal standing for police to pursue such measures.

“In my view, it’s not [a legal search] for this reason: Normally the police can get a warrant to conduct a search if they have probable cause that it will find evidence they can use in criminal trial,” Rudovsky said. “What the courts have said in a number of situations is that even if there’s some cause to believe that the procedure might lead them to evidence, where it involves a serious intrusion of personal dignity and privacy, you have to balance that with the nature of the intrusion.”
posted by porn in the woods (84 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite


 
Let us pause for a moment to consider that a teenager who takes a picture of his own body can be charged with production and possession of child pornography. There's something perverse about that.
posted by 1adam12 at 4:16 PM on July 9, 2014 [71 favorites]


They should make all the attending officers wear erection-monitoring equipment during their underage penis observation. You know, just in case...
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:18 PM on July 9, 2014 [35 favorites]


and the government is denying it. quite a story.
posted by jpe at 4:24 PM on July 9, 2014


Foster said Detective Abbott told her that after obtaining photos of the teen’s erect penis he would “use special software to compare pictures of this penis to this penis. Who does this? It’s just crazy.”

Holy golly wow fuck: penis comparison software?!

If this was bankrolled by Charles Wang, I won't know whether to shit or go blind.
posted by dr_dank at 4:25 PM on July 9, 2014 [11 favorites]


Wait, so taking your own picture and sending it to someone in your own age group mutually is illegal - possibly illegal without even sending the picture - but but being forced to expose yourself to strangers with an erection is somehow not just less illegal, but state sanctioned and ordered?

What the fuck? That is some sick, stupid shit.
posted by loquacious at 4:27 PM on July 9, 2014 [81 favorites]


ENHANCE
posted by thelonius at 4:27 PM on July 9, 2014 [12 favorites]


hard to believe but you can't be soft on crime.
posted by shockingbluamp at 4:30 PM on July 9, 2014 [38 favorites]


This is horrible and outrageous and a complete violation of that kid's civil liberties. That said, the story about the prosecution/cops wanting to take the pictures seems to be coming from the kid's lawyer. I feel like maaaaybe it could be an attempt by the defense attorney to stir up some shit and milk public outrage.

I'm holding my outrage in reserve, just in case, but I'd like to know more before I spend it.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:34 PM on July 9, 2014 [4 favorites]


hard to believe but you can't be soft on crime.

Only by working together can we get a grip and beat it!
posted by Old'n'Busted at 4:38 PM on July 9, 2014 [7 favorites]


The 4th and 5th Amendment issues on this are astounding.
posted by Navelgazer at 4:38 PM on July 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


From the official police release: On January 23, 2014 Manassas City Police was contacted by a parent of a 15 YOA female juvenile who was sent pornographic videos by a 17 YOA male suspect after repeatedly being told to stop. Upon further investigating the incident charges of manufacturing and distributing child pornography were brought against the 17 YOA male suspect on January 28, 2014 after consultation with the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office

... It is not the policy of the Manassas City Police or the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office to authorize invasive search procedures of suspects in cases of this nature and no such procedures have been conducted in this case.


There's enough here for some outrage (a youth who takes a selfie is hardly a manufacturer of child pornography), but I'll also hold most of it in reserve. For now.
posted by kanewai at 4:40 PM on July 9, 2014 [3 favorites]


Is it penis enhancing software? Or is it...hardware?
posted by oceanjesse at 4:44 PM on July 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Is this a Naughty America production?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:48 PM on July 9, 2014


Life imitates art. http://youtu.be/LzwQ8_H3DFw
posted by NedKoppel at 4:49 PM on July 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


The police and prosecutor are denying the specifics here and have said that such a search is not part of their investigative techniques. I dont think I beleive them. The detective made an absurd threat to condict this search in an attempt to get the suspect to plead guilty and it backfired. Now of course they deny it because who wants to be in that PR shitstorm.
posted by humanfont at 4:54 PM on July 9, 2014 [3 favorites]


Whether the search threat is real or not, being stupid while you're a horny teenager netting you two felonies seems like the penultimate of fucking stupid.
posted by Talez at 4:57 PM on July 9, 2014 [11 favorites]


Even aside from the ridiculous heap of just can't even here, are dicks really distinctive enough that this would be at all useful?
posted by threeants at 5:01 PM on July 9, 2014


How is it not molestation to force a person to have an erection? Molestation of a minor. A 17-year-old may be harassing a 15-year-old by sending a sext video, and that's not really okay, even if it's his girlfriend. I talked to my kid when he was a teenager about the problems of him potentially having sexy pics of his gf, and the possible extreme consequences. This is just all kinds of WTF.
posted by theora55 at 5:03 PM on July 9, 2014 [3 favorites]


What kind of country can we claim to be if we can't all just be adults and differentiate between child pornography and state-sanctioned child pornography?
posted by Benny Andajetz at 5:31 PM on July 9, 2014 [3 favorites]


penis comparison software?!

It was either that or put him in the box and try a little wood cop, nad cop.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 5:32 PM on July 9, 2014 [5 favorites]


Let us pause for a moment to consider that a teenager who takes a picture of his own body can be charged with production and possession of child pornography. There's something perverse about that.

But not the girl for the exact same "crime". If anyone is going to get charged here, both parties are guilty, both should be charged for the exact same offense.

And a billion dollars says the girl is white, and the guy is black.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:35 PM on July 9, 2014 [3 favorites]


And a billion dollars says the girl is white, and the guy is black.
Well, usually it's girls who are disproportionately punished for things like this. However, I can't call this "progress".
posted by Ouverture at 5:36 PM on July 9, 2014


And a billion dollars says the girl is white, and the guy is black.

Looks like he's white
posted by bradf at 5:41 PM on July 9, 2014 [2 favorites]


I am glad to hear that all the murders and rapes in Prince William County have been solved and all the offenders have been convicted and are behind bars.
posted by mrbigmuscles at 5:49 PM on July 9, 2014 [8 favorites]


A 17-year-old may be harassing a 15-year-old by sending a sext video, and that's not really okay, even if it's his girlfriend.

The article does not indicate the girlfriend had an issue with it. It indicates the girl's mom had an issue with it:
Foster said the case began when the teen’s 15-year-old girlfriend sent photos of herself to the 17-year-old, who in turn sent her the video in question. The girl has not been charged, and her mother filed a complaint about the boy’s video, Foster said.
which is all kinds of effed up. Just, you know, ground her and take away her cell phone or something. You not liking her boyfriend should not land his ass in jail, potentially branded for life as some kind of pedophile for taking basically pics of his own dick. It's unbelievably messed up.

Personally, I think it's better if a 15 year old girl is getting off on pics of her bf's dick than totally legally getting jiggy with him in person because said vid is not going to get her pregnant nor give her vd.

Our so called "morals" have got to get caught up with the times.
posted by Michele in California at 5:52 PM on July 9, 2014 [28 favorites]


Honestly, my first reaction was surprise that the male member of the young couple is the one being sexually harrassed by the police. Maybe we do live in an egalitarian society now!
posted by fshgrl at 5:55 PM on July 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


1adam12: "Let us pause for a moment to consider that a teenager who takes a picture of his own body can be charged with production and possession of child pornography. There's something perverse about that."

And the adult police who view the actual live erection of said under-18 year old are NOT charged with viewing child pornography, even though that is just as, if not more, pornographic than the original viewing, which was at least consensual between both sender and receiver.
posted by symbioid at 5:57 PM on July 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


He can't get an erection during the photo shoot because it's against the law to incriminate yourself.
posted by ChuckRamone at 5:59 PM on July 9, 2014 [9 favorites]


Have You Seen This Prick?!!

sorry
posted by jonmc at 6:04 PM on July 9, 2014 [4 favorites]


Let us pause for a moment to consider that a teenager who takes a picture of his own body can be charged with production and possession of child pornography.

A few years ago, a teen woman was charged for production of child pornography for taking a selfie, and tried as an adult. Wait waht? Do the courts consider her an adult or not?!!... [Brain xplode.]
posted by anonymisc at 6:14 PM on July 9, 2014 [38 favorites]


Hopefully this magical penis comparing software would be more reliable that the alternative: gloryhole lineups.
posted by CKmtl at 6:14 PM on July 9, 2014 [2 favorites]


We are not far away from it being illegal for underage kids to even have genitals. Lock 'em up until they are 18! This is the pernicious creep of pedophile panic.
posted by munchingzombie at 6:19 PM on July 9, 2014 [2 favorites]


I guess Mom doesn't give too much of a shit if her daughter speaks to her again, because if I were that girl, and I say this as a forty-five year old woman with a young daughter, I wouldn't give her the time of day for the rest of my life.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 6:20 PM on July 9, 2014 [17 favorites]


Good lord, that sounds like the most horrifying, traumatizing thing. If they wanted to put a teenager in prison for consensually sending a dick pic to his girlfriend while maintaining the thinnest veneer of civility, surely there are other methods they could have used. (Metadata, perhaps? I dunno.)

This is the dumbest, most horrifying thing.
posted by supermassive at 6:33 PM on July 9, 2014 [4 favorites]


I sent a pic of my rod to the police to rule myself out.
posted by porn in the woods at 6:40 PM on July 9, 2014 [14 favorites]


Life imitates art...
Balbricker: Now, Mr. Carter. I know this is completely unorthodox. But I think this is the only way to find that boy. Now that penis had a mole on it - I'd recognize that penis anywhere. In spite of the juvenile snickers of some, this is a serious matter. That seducer and despoiler must be stopped; he's extremely dangerous. And, Mr. Carter, I'm certain that everyone in this room knows who that is. He's a contemptible little pervert who...
Mr. Carter: Miss Balbricker!
Balbricker: Well, I'm sorry, but I've got him now, and I'm not going to let him slip through my fingers again. Now, all I'm asking is that you give me five boys for a few minutes. The coaches can be present - Tommy Turner and any four boys you see fit to choose and we... and we... can put a stop to this menace. And it is a menace.
[pause]
Balbricker: Well, what are you gonna do about it?
Mr. Carter: Five young boys in the nude, a police line-up so that you can identify his tallywhacker. Please, please can we call it a "tallywhacker"? Penis is so ppp... penis is so personal.
Balbricker: We can put hoods over their heads to avoid embarrassment. Now listen: we have got to do it, as distasteful as it is. I know it's him. That
[pause]
Balbricker: tallywhacker had a mole on it. And that mole is the key to it.
Mr. Carter: Miss Balbricker, do you realize the difficulty of your request? Now, I would be very happy to, uh, to apprehend the young man myself. But can you imagine what the board of education would say if you were granted a line-up in order to examine their private pa... their private parts for an incriminating mole?
Balbricker: But Mr. Carter.
Coach Brakett: Mr. Carter, I think I have a way out of this. We, uh, call the police, and we have 'em send over one of their sketch artists. And Miss Balbricker can give a description. We can put up "Wanted" posters all over school... "Have you seen this prick? Report immediately to Beulah Balbricker. Do not attempt to apprehend this prick, as it is armed and dangerous. It was last seen hanging out in the girls' locker room at Angel Beach High School."
posted by jenkinsEar at 6:41 PM on July 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Sweet:

The 15-year-old girl who initially sent a sext to her boyfriend, is not being charged. But the boy is charged with possessing child porn for receiving the message from his girlfriend, and with producing child porn for sending his own video message back.
So, she initiates and is neither charged with production of child porn nor with possession. He reciprocates and is charged with both.

WHY?

Unless there is a whole lot of info missing here (and there may well be), this makes no sense at all.
posted by Michele in California at 6:46 PM on July 9, 2014 [17 favorites]


an absurd threat to condict this search

i see what you did there...
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 6:48 PM on July 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Virginia is for Lovers
posted by valkane at 6:50 PM on July 9, 2014


Virginia. So much to answer for.
posted by 4ster at 7:00 PM on July 9, 2014


The police and prosecutor are denying the specifics here and have said that such a search is not part of their investigative techniques. I dont think I beleive them. The detective made an absurd threat to condict this search in an attempt to get the suspect to plead guilty and it backfired. Now of course they deny it because who wants to be in that PR shitstorm.

The bigger the lie, the more they believe
posted by indubitable at 7:03 PM on July 9, 2014


Gives a whole new meaning to "perversion of justice," don't it?
posted by nickmark at 7:21 PM on July 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


humanfont: "The detective made an absurd threat to condict this search in an attempt to get the suspect to plead guilty and it backfired."

Interestingly, according to the article, it seems it was both the prosecuting attorney and a detective separately made some pretty wild claims. It was the prosecutor Claiborne Richardson who threatened to take boner pics unless he plead guilty and said that they would give him a boner-inducing injection (!) but it was Detective David E. Abbott who claimed that they had special boner-comparing software (!!).

It shouldn't be lost here that the original case was dismissed/dropped because the prosecutors seemingly screwed up (didn't certify the teen as a juvenile). So, maybe there was some extra pressure to force a guilty plea on their second go around?

Meanwhile, the Manassas City PD has released a hilariously inartful response. "17 YOA" (acronym for "years of age") instead of "17-year old"? "charges were nolle prosqui" instead of "charges were dismissed"? Come on guys. Is your PR person still on vacation this week?
posted by mhum at 7:25 PM on July 9, 2014


Re: YOA

My first impulse reading that is "year old adult" falling in line with the other story mentioned being tough on crime by calling the offender a child or adult depending on the context to maximize the penalty.

More likely it's just a nonchalant way of saving a few seconds while "framing" people as subjects if not suspects or criminals. You only merit an abbreviation, like a criminal code designation.
posted by aydeejones at 7:48 PM on July 9, 2014


I had no idea the results of the Kahn-DeLuise Eunuch Test could be held as admissible evidence.
posted by Spatch at 8:00 PM on July 9, 2014 [3 favorites]


Only for determining evidence of life.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:07 PM on July 9, 2014


Sorry, didn't realise that we had gone back in time to Plymouth Rock.
posted by arcticseal at 9:11 PM on July 9, 2014


Well, usually it's girls who are disproportionately punished for things like this.

Any evidence for that?

In most teenage relationships with an age gap of a couple years, I'd expect the boy to be older, and thus to be the one more likely to be prosecuted. The law is generally more protective of the younger, and harsher against the older (both as to what constitutes a crime, and as to whether the person will be prosecuted as a juvenile).
posted by John Cohen at 9:43 PM on July 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


oh god MRAs/theredpill/etc are going to have a fucking field day with this.

Have i had too much internet that my very first reaction, upon hearing of this, was that? It's better than any fictional bullshit they could fart up.
posted by emptythought at 10:02 PM on July 9, 2014


Nobody invoked the penile plethysmograph? These prosecutors have no imagination.
posted by ostranenie at 10:28 PM on July 9, 2014


If I had to make a bet, it's that the mom of the young woman got her freak on as a 15-year-old, too.

Even here on MF I've seen users throw pedo-labels around in one thread involving teens and sex, while in another thread, on another day, they mention positively their own sexy teen hijinks involving older people (not implying everyone's experiences were positive, just that I'm puzzled by how common it is to condemn people doing the exact same thing they warmly remember). I once had a conversation with a friend where they condemned and bragged, and it's only an ambiguous pause which made me unsure if both weren't in the same sentence.
posted by maxwelton at 11:10 PM on July 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


oh god MRAs/theredpill/etc are going to have a fucking field day with this.

Yeah, well since half this thread is jokes about sexually humiliating a teen boy, you folks aren't exactly helping to prevent that.
posted by digitalprimate at 11:37 PM on July 9, 2014 [2 favorites]


Yeah, well since half this thread is jokes about sexually humiliating a teen boy,

What?
posted by the agents of KAOS at 12:11 AM on July 10, 2014 [4 favorites]


A friend of mine has a 17-year-old daughter who sent a topless photo of herself to her boyfriend, who is also 17. Her boyfriend - a few days later - was playing around with his phone in class; the teacher was behind him and saw the photo; the teacher confiscated the camera and reported it to the school Dean. The Dean is obligated - by law - to call the cops if she sees undressed pictures of minors on a cell phone. The boy was arrested, and given a citation to appear in Juvenile Court; so was my friend's daughter.

Prior to the hearing, the Juvenile Court counselor/probation officer ruled that they would not have to go to Court, but had to attend a hearing. When I heard about this I was shocked, but in fact it is the case in many states that pictures sent and/or received by minors of other minors in a compromising pose is, in fact, considered a child porn offense.

Many states who passed these laws are now beating a hasty retreat to keep these things within the purview of the school disciplinary system, and/or out of the Courts altogether.

I did a little research into this and discovered that kids have obtained criminal records for this stuff. My friend's daughter and her boyfriend are going to have to pay to have their records expunged when they are 18.

The kind of activity I describe should not endanger a young person with criminal penalty.

I think these laws have come into place as a result of photos making it onto the Internet after a breakup, as a revenge move, or by some other inadvertent act. As a result, some kids have harmed themselves, or worse. The current laws are an overreaction, and need to be changed.
posted by Vibrissae at 1:14 AM on July 10, 2014 [6 favorites]


Kaos, not to pick on anyone in particular but consider:

- They should make all the attending officers wear erection-monitoring equipment during their underage penis observation. You know, just in case...
- ENHANCE
- Only by working together can we get a grip and beat it!
- Is it penis enhancing software? Or is it...hardware?
- It was either that or put him in the box and try a little wood cop, nad cop.
- Have You Seen This Prick?!!
- Hopefully this magical penis comparing software would be more reliable that the alternative: gloryhole lineups.
- DETECTIVE DAVID E. ABBOTT WILL DO ANYTHING TO GIVE BONERS TO UNDERAGE MINORS
- I sent a pic of my rod to the police to rule myself out.


This is exactly the sort of fodder the MRAs/theredpill people are looking for, and we're handing it right to them. If this were a thread about police testing to see what an underage girl's bits looked like aroused, these kinds of comments would rightfully be deleted.
posted by digitalprimate at 1:28 AM on July 10, 2014 [5 favorites]


Please explain how any of those comments are sexually humiliating the boy.
posted by Quilford at 1:36 AM on July 10, 2014 [1 favorite]


They seem to me to be pretty clearly ridiculing the things said by the attorney and police officer to the teen boy threatening to invade his privacy.
posted by Quilford at 1:38 AM on July 10, 2014 [5 favorites]


And/or making erection puns
posted by Quilford at 1:39 AM on July 10, 2014


I'm not sure, if I were the teenage boy reading this thread, I'd be able to make that fine distinction. I'm quite sure I would regard those jokes as humiliating. Further, I'm comfortable saying that this would be a reaction shared by most people in this teen boy's position.

Of course, we are all different, but it seems obvious to me that digitalprimate's observation, that we are making fun out of the sexual humiliation of a person, is correct.
posted by alasdair at 1:44 AM on July 10, 2014 [3 favorites]


(Also I realize now my comment is very derail-y. That was stupid of me. I should have just flagged and moved on. Apologies! No derail, ok?)
posted by digitalprimate at 2:37 AM on July 10, 2014


So, she initiates and is neither charged with production of child porn nor with possession. He reciprocates and is charged with both.

Could be because he didn't want to press charges?
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 3:29 AM on July 10, 2014


One thing that concerns me is the idea that they will take the accused to the hospital for an "injection" to create the erection. It seems unethical for medical staff to have a part in this, injecting people with drugs for nonmedical reasons.
posted by grouse at 4:10 AM on July 10, 2014 [5 favorites]


Could be because he didn't want to press charges?

I thought that producing and being in possession of child porn was one of those crimes where the state can prosecute without anyone pressing charges.
posted by ymgve at 4:34 AM on July 10, 2014 [2 favorites]


Could be because he didn't want to press charges?

To the extent that pressing charges is a thing, that ain't how it works for child pornography. You don't get to legally possess child pornography, just because the model didn't mind making it.
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:40 AM on July 10, 2014 [2 favorites]


I thought that producing and being in possession of child porn was one of those crimes where the state can prosecute without anyone pressing charges.

Criminal offenses generally can be prosecuted without the alleged victim "pressing charges" or giv ing consent to the prosecution. In almost all cases, it is "The State of X vs Defendant." The failure of a victim to co-operate can make prosecution more difficult, but as a legal matter, it is the state rather than the victim that decides whether to prosecute and brings the case.
posted by layceepee at 4:41 AM on July 10, 2014


...but in fact it is the case in many states that pictures sent and/or received by minors of other minors in a compromising pose is, in fact, considered a child porn offense.

A lot of state legislatures have hurriedly pushed-through laws like that over the past couple of years, as an outgrowth of the "is your child sexting?" panic that swept all the local tv news channels around that time.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:51 AM on July 10, 2014


Meanwhile, the Manassas City PD has released a hilariously inartful response. "17 YOA" (acronym for "years of age") instead of "17-year old"? "charges were nolle prosqui" instead of "charges were dismissed"? Come on guys.

Have you got a bone to pick?


One thing that concerns me is the idea that they will take the accused to the hospital for an "injection" to create the erection.


I'm not an expert on the topic, but if I understand it correctly when a detective is interrogating someone they can offer or threaten the suspect with anything they think will bring results -- "good cop/bad cop" wouldn't work otherwise -- and then if one is made an offer but not provided it in writing it doesn't mean shit. I don't know whether all provided documents are considered legally binding, either.
posted by mr. digits at 5:22 AM on July 10, 2014


The world would be an incalculably better place if every single adult was having fantastic, fulfilling sex on a regular basis. The societal and human cost of our ongoing war on sex is just incalculable - a war waged waged primarily by a bunch of middle-aged & elderly people with righteous, neurotic views founded on broken, unfulfilling sexual lives.
posted by crayz at 5:39 AM on July 10, 2014 [4 favorites]


I wonder if this iPeckrChekr software would have voice output. A Dalek voice.

This has Facebook acquisition written all over it.
posted by dr_dank at 7:09 AM on July 10, 2014


One thing that concerns me is the idea that they will take the accused to the hospital for an "injection" to create the erection.

A hard beef injection?

Fuck MRAs in the ear, they're going to justify their stupidity with or without our jokes.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:03 AM on July 10, 2014 [2 favorites]


Even aside from the ridiculous heap of just can't even here, are dicks really distinctive enough that this would be at all useful?

Yes. Perhaps not quite as individually distinctive as fingerprints, but if you laid out a, uh, lineup in front of me I could very easily pick out which belonged to ex-boyfriends and lovers, and which didn't. (And frankly, might be able to ID a couple of porn stars.)

I too am enormously bothered that he's being charged with making child ponography while she isn't. They both did the exact same thing, and she initiated it.

That meddling mother has done far, far more to harm her daughter's empowered sexual expression than a stupid picture of a fucking dick (which you can find literally millions of via google in about three seconds) did.

And yeah, this is just handing ammunition to MRA assholes.

That is all quite apart from the massive invasion of privacy that is forcing a 17 year old to have an erection in front of cops. Who presumably will have to take pictures--thus creating child pornography for which they will never be charged. For fuck's sake, they were in a consensual relationship. People send these things to each other all the goddamn time.

(There is a parallel with Michael Jackson having to strip naked to affirm/deny descriptions that children had provided, but that was in the context of child abuse, not a consensual fucking relationship.)

Opinions and anger, I have them.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:21 AM on July 10, 2014


Oh also: this is why I very firmly believe in Canada's stance on minors who commit crimes. They are not allowed, period, to be identified by name or photo anywhere in the media. "Defendant TS," maybe, but that's it. This kid is, thank you internet, going to have this following him literally forever unless he changes his name.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:23 AM on July 10, 2014


They should make all the attending officers wear erection-monitoring equipment during their underage penis observation. You know, just in case...

If Stewart talked, what would he say?
Enough to keep you here ten more years
Where we zap ya with our 'therapy'
Throw the switch on your fantasies

With our little electric ring
Clamped around your love thang
Flash ya pictures, Clockwork Orange-style
Let's see what makes Stewart smile

Yow! Yow! Yow! Try not to expand
Yow! Yow! Yow! Don't trip the Plethysmograph...
posted by FatherDagon at 12:10 PM on July 10, 2014


So what exactly is the point of this prosecution, aside from shitty political traction?
The fuckers who think this is somehow realistic belong in the lake of fire.

Sheesh, teenagers have been consensually taking nekkid pictures of each other since Polaroid was introduced. (and most likely before that)

Christ on the Cross, please go do some real policing.
posted by Pudhoho at 2:19 PM on July 10, 2014


From the AP: Police back off on plan to take explicit photo
posted by Lexica at 2:51 PM on July 10, 2014 [5 favorites]


Manassas City Manager Patrick Pate acknowledged Thursday that the department and the city had been fielding irate calls from across the country and internationally after the story broke. He said the city was being portrayed unfairly, given the fact that the photos were never actually taken.
You're being treated unfairly? Because you got some angry phone calls?
posted by grouse at 3:37 PM on July 10, 2014 [7 favorites]


Forget it, Jake, it's Manassas.

Sick freaking place. You can feel the clock turning back when you drive there. The simmering hatred is everywhere, just beneath the surface.

For reasons completely unfathomable to me, my parents live there. (They have no job they need to be near, or anything like that.) They woke one morning last week to find American flags put by everyone's mailbox in the neighborhood, just prior to July 4. Whether you wanted a flag on your lawn or not, it didn't matter. You were issued one.

I don't know who did it, but there's something positively fascist about that to me.

Oh! You can also thank Manassas for the Bobbits and — everyone's favorite — George Zimmerman.
posted by CommonSense at 4:40 PM on July 10, 2014 [2 favorites]


a war waged waged primarily by a bunch of middle-aged & elderly people with righteous, neurotic views founded on broken, unfulfilling sexual lives.

This, like blaming everything on republicans, completely erases and waves through the checkpoint all the young people who are actively making the world a shitty place in the same kind of way. And not just parroting the old bigoted bitter person talking points either. Inventing their own new, hip ones to sell to their peers.

MRAs would be an easy place to start, but there's so much more.

Focusing the microscope and progressive person Overton window on just that one group let's a lot of societal shittiness fly under the radar, so to speak.

It's a good soundbyte though, and easy to get e-fist bumps on. I understand why I see it a lot. It's not even factually incorrect those people are doing those things either. They just aren't even remotely alone, or even holding a massive majority. Majority of positions of power in political office? Possibly. But they don't have a monopoly on suckitude in those ways at all.
posted by emptythought at 4:45 PM on July 10, 2014


I recently moved to a small(er) town in Northern California. There was a flag stuck in my lawn on the morning of July 4th. I was a bit taken aback, but a friend told me that it's not really that uncommon. Twas the American Legion that put them in every yard in the neighborhood.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:47 PM on July 10, 2014


To be fair, emptythought, the entire comment was: The world would be an incalculably better place if every single adult was having fantastic, fulfilling sex on a regular basis. The societal and human cost of our ongoing war on sex is just incalculable - a war waged waged primarily by a bunch of middle-aged & elderly people with righteous, neurotic views founded on broken, unfulfilling sexual lives.

"every single adult" means every person age 18 and over, not just old people. So I didn't feel the comment really targeted any particular group.

I think a fantastic, fulfilling sex life is kind of a high bar to meet. For many people, for a variety of reasons, it can be quite a challenge to get those needs met at all, much less get them met without undue negative fall-out.

I faved the comment because I am kind of a hippy-tree-hugger, make-love-not-war-esque personality. I was kind of agreeing with the idea that the world would be a better place if more people had their personal act together enough to having a really fulfilling private life. A lot of people don't. I know I am far more assholish when I can't get my emotional and sexual needs met. I am far crankier, more unforgiving, etc. So I am somewhat inclined to think that is likely to generalize, even if it is not necessarily true in all instances.
posted by Michele in California at 4:57 PM on July 10, 2014


One good thing about Manassas is the frequency with which students ask me about the battles of man-asses.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:12 PM on July 10, 2014


Manassas City Manager Patrick Pate acknowledged Thursday that the department and the city had been fielding irate calls from across the country and internationally after the story broke.

Dan Savage called out his flying monkeys recently, which is probably where all the calls came from. Best of all, the top hit on "Clairborne Richardson" is now "Clairborne Richardson wants a picture of a kid's cock." Thanks, Dan!

As for the jokes, well, just ask yourself: If a teenage girl is asked to inject something in her genitals while police take pictures of it, will you be making puns about that? If not, why not?
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 6:38 AM on July 11, 2014 [2 favorites]


Mod note: A couple of comments removed; let's not do the googlebomb thing here, please.
posted by taz (staff) at 7:23 AM on July 11, 2014


As for the jokes, well, just ask yourself: If a teenage girl is asked to inject something in her genitals while police take pictures of it, will you be making puns about that? If not, why not?

One reason a person might feel differently about that particular situation is that gender dynamics are not the same for men and women in American (or global) culture. Young men are date raped, sexually assaulted, and so forth, at a far lower frequency than young women. As a result of what is commonly known as "the patriarchy," women are more often given sympathy in situations like this.

"Why is there a mothers' day and a fathers' day, but no childrens' day?!"
"Because EVERY day is childrens' day."
posted by GoingToShopping at 10:16 PM on July 11, 2014


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