Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Is This a Crime?

It seems more and more that nudity is being criminalized, even in the absence of criminal behavior. 19 year-old Victoria Schattauer, a cheerleading coach at Goshen High School in Ohio, was charged with "tending to cause the unruliness of a child" by posing topless with a 15 year-old student, and fired from her job.

The Topfree Equal Rights Association has chimed in on the incident and has posted an uncensored version of the photo in question. While a male coach was also charged with providing alcohol to a minor, it appears that Schattauer's only offense is taking the photo, which is sexy but not sexual, and certainly not illegal. Trumping up a charge such as "causing unruliness" of a child is apparently the only way authorities can make any sort of case against this young woman. Once again, this is a case of women being treated as criminals simply because they have breasts. If these were males in the photo, there would be no issue.

TERA is inviting it's readers to express their opinion on the issue, specifically focusing on whether of not the photo is "wrong", and if it should be banned from publication.

As for me, put me in the corner of believing that while the behavior is immature, and the taking of the photo was stupid, it's not a crime, and we need to stop ruining lives over issues of normal sexual expression, and normal nudity.

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1 comment:

e-head said...

Here here!

It was incredibly stupid and immature, but isn't that what being 19 is all about?

If you don't want your teachers fraternizing with your students then I'd advice you not to hire 19 yo's for goodness sake!

Anyway, arresting them is utterly absurd.