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#Post#: 75250--------------------------------------------------
Watching pornography in public
By: Aleko Date: May 4, 2022, 2:30 am
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There’s currently a massive furore in the UK Parliament and
press after two female MPs complained about a male colleague who
they had seen watching a porno film on his phone actually in the
chamber. (NB they did so independently: at first it was reported
that there were two porno-watchers being complained about, till
it became clear that they had each separately seen the same guy
at it. So it must have been clearly visible: it’s not a case of
the old joke about the maiden lady who complains about her
nudist neighbours who offend her sight every time she stands on
a ladder to peer over their fence.)
The hoo-ha is going off in multiple directions: Parliament has
been having its MeToo moment for some time due to several
complaints of sexual harassment and institutional sexism, and
only last week someone fed to a tabloid newspaper an allegation
that Angela Rayner, the deputy leader of the Opposition, has a
tactic of crossing and uncrossing her legs to distract Boris
Johnson when he’s speaking. All very sordid. So this guy’s
porno-watching has been widely taken as another example of
parliamentary sexual harassment. He himself, representative of
a rural West Country constituency, has added greatly to the
gaiety of the nation by claiming it was all an accident, that he
was only researching tractors online when he stumbled unawares
on this porno film. And then nobody seems to know precisely what
offence he could be said to be guilty of: I would have assumed
that the old common law offence of ‘outraging public decency’
should obviously cover it, but it appears that that’s a legal
“grey area”. I can’t think why, but there you go.
In response to this news women all over the country have stated
on social media and in the press that it’s an everyday
experience on public transport to find that the man you’re
crammed next to is watching pornography on his phone and doesn’t
care that you and others can’t avoid seeing it. (These days I
don’t travel to work by public transport so I can’t judge for
myself how true that is, for which I’m grateful.) Some men, I’m
sorry to say, have claimed that there’s nothing wrong or
unhealthy about wanting to enjoy a “little erotic snack” on the
bus and everybody else should just chill.
And this last attitude shows, I think, how much society has lost
by failing to wholeheartedly uphold the concept of common
courtesy as a value that trumps “being authentic”, “doing me”,
“fulfilling one’s needs” and all the rest of it in dealings with
other people. If ordinary good manners were still accepted as an
unequivocal good, which for many centuries they were, then we
could simply characterise this activity and this attitude as
“rude”, which it undoubtedly is, and have done with it. There
may be nothing wrong or unhealthy about wanting to enjoy a
Munster-cheese-and-aioli sandwich on the bus, either: but it
affects the other passengers and so you should not do it. Same
with picking one’s nose, scratching one’s private parts, burping
openly, practising your rap number, etc. Nobody wants to
see/hear/smell you doing any of these things, so keep them till
you’re somewhere random strangers aren’t obliged to put up with
them.
#Post#: 75252--------------------------------------------------
Re: Watching pornography in public
By: vintagegal Date: May 4, 2022, 7:35 am
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Maybe need to publicly shame the guys who are doing it in
public. "Hey, if you can't get any in real life, I guess you
have to watch it" and hold up your hand with only the pinkie
extended.
#Post#: 75265--------------------------------------------------
Re: Watching pornography in public
By: camlan Date: May 4, 2022, 2:02 pm
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My take on things like this is that common sense would dictate
that a member of Parliament watching porn while actually in
Parliament would be considered by the majority of his/her
constituency to be wrong, regardless of what laws might be
invoked. People would want the person they voted for to be
paying attention to what is going on around them and not
self-pleasuring. In other words, he/she should be doing their
job and not indulging in private pleasures.
Therefore, having been caught doing this by more than one
person, this person has shown themselves unfit for the office
they hold and should step down, on the basis that they have
revealed themselves to be too stupid to hold office. Too stupid
1) for watching porn in public and 2) getting caught doing it.
#Post#: 75306--------------------------------------------------
Re: Watching pornography in public
By: Hmmm Date: May 6, 2022, 9:57 am
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[quote author=camlan link=topic=2342.msg75265#msg75265
date=1651690935]
My take on things like this is that common sense would dictate
that a member of Parliament watching **** while actually in
Parliament would be considered by the majority of his/her
constituency to be wrong, regardless of what laws might be
invoked. People would want the person they voted for to be
paying attention to what is going on around them and not
self-pleasuring. In other words, he/she should be doing their
job and not indulging in private pleasures.
Therefore, having been caught doing this by more than one
person, this person has shown themselves unfit for the office
they hold and should step down, on the basis that they have
revealed themselves to be too stupid to hold office. Too stupid
1) for watching **** in public and 2) getting caught doing it.
[/quote]
Completely agree with this.
I worked at one of my companies other offices for a few months
and had a wonderful working relationship and friendship with a
male co-worker. I was stunned to learn he had been let go about
2 months after I left the office. He had stupidly been caught
watching pornography on a company asset in a conference room
using one of the large proctors. As much as I respected him as a
co-worker, I agreed that he violated company policy and deserved
having his employment terminated. Was this my representative,
I'd be demanding he step down.
I also agree with Aleko that we as a society are becoming too
tolerant of behavior like watching porno in public. I know the
motto is mind your own business but sorry, kids and others do
not need to be exposed to that type of behavior. I feel the same
way about overly foul language in public places. I have a higher
tolerance level for confrontation than most I've learned and I
don't care if someone reacts to me like I'm an old ninny if I
call out the behavior. Though their behavior might now
immediately change, it might plant just a bit of a seed for
future behavior.
#Post#: 75313--------------------------------------------------
Re: Watching pornography in public
By: STiG Date: May 6, 2022, 1:10 pm
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Watching porn in public? Not the smartest thing to do and I'd
leave the area, if possible.
But watching porn ON THE JOB? Yeah, you should be fired. In
the case of the MP, he should step down.
#Post#: 75315--------------------------------------------------
Re: Watching pornography in public
By: lakey Date: May 6, 2022, 1:39 pm
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[quote] I know the motto is mind your own business but
sorry[/quote]
Yeah, what you do at home on your own devices is your business.
But you aren't being paid to watch porn, when you are at work.
For a politician to do it is even worse, because they are being
paid by taxpayers, not a private company. There should be enough
outcry that the politician resigns.
#Post#: 75334--------------------------------------------------
Re: Watching pornography in public
By: Aleko Date: May 7, 2022, 6:08 am
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[quote]There should be enough outcry that the politician
resigns.[/quote]
There was, and he has, with commendable promptness and full
apologies. The sad thing is that he seems to be in general quite
a decent sort, a proper local MP who did his best for his rural
constituents, not your average climb-the-greasy-pole Westminster
sleazeball at all. His story about searching for farm machinery
could possibly even be true - there’s a make of combine
harvester called ‘Dominator’, don’t ask me why! He said that
having found this site accidentally, he just couldn’t resist
going back for another peek; which, let’s face it, is all too
plausible. His wife said publicly that he’s been an idiot, but
is an honest decent idiot so she’s standing by him.
But the smut-in-public issue and even the
playing-on-your-phone-in-the-Chamber issue of this incident have
been pretty much swamped by the misogyny-in-Parliament issue,
which is huge: according to my paper there are currently
fifty-two separate allegations of sexual harassment currently
being investigated. If even half of those allegations hold
water, that’s just awful.
#Post#: 75335--------------------------------------------------
Re: Watching pornography in public
By: cymbaline246 Date: May 7, 2022, 7:50 am
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I imagine calling a tractor "the Dominator" gets a lot of hits
in the internet. That's why the name was picked.
I worked for a tux rental company for a few years. The owner was
looking towards retirement and wanted to sell his business, and
his nephew was contacted to take a look around and see if it
would suit him. Nephew was about 30 years old, I'm guessing. He
arrived with his own father (brother and former business partner
of the owner.) While I (a 60-year-old woman) stood four feet
away pressing tux pants, Nephew held up his cell phone and said
loudly to his dad, "Hey, look have you seen this? She can make
her ----s dance in time to music." I've seen the video, it's
circulated widely. I didn't particularly care - but brides who
aren't cynical middle-aged people might very well care. A
different type of employee might care, too.
Owner wasn't asking much for this business. I suspect he'd have
given the nephew a great deal, but the young man wasn't
interested. I had an opportunity to go full-time at another
business nearby, and left before the tux shop was sold. A few
months later, the same young man applied to the store where I
worked for a position in sales. Boss asked, "Do you think he'd
be an asset? Do you know anything about him?" I told him what
little I knew, which pretty much amounted to the fact that he
seemed clueless about who was near around him while he watched
videos on his phone.
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