Tag Archives: maria miller hypocrite

Upskirt – Part 2 (or Maria Miller and unintended consequences)

If a Martian landed on Earth today to study the ways of humans, one aspect which would probably tax him (yes, male Martians make the best space travelers) would be the irrationalities of the male/female relationship.

He would be immediately aware of the current surge of hostility to men who behave in a certain way towards women, by making  advances, comments about appearance, and asking them out on dates, or (worse) attempting or occasioning physical contact, however minor. He might be puzzled because the unfortunate male  cannot know until after any comment or action whether it is welcome or not, because in some cases the women appear to be flattered and respond positively to the approach, especially to drivers of super cars.

He might in fact watch Parliamentary TV and see politician Maria Miller describing taking unwanted photographs of women’s underwear as an being an ‘horrific’ crime and a gross violation of the subject’s privacy. He might conclude from this that women kind regard any public  exposure of their undergarments as  (per Ms. Miller) ‘an act of indecency’.

So far, he’s  clear on the framework. But opening a copy of the Daily Mail (for example), he would be puzzled by multiple photographs of women having their undergarments exposed by means of evidentially  self-engineered ‘wardrobe malfunctions’  freely published in  national newspapers. (see upskirt alert )

However, his puzzlement would be compounded by a visit to a horse race called the Grand National, where a significant proportion of the female attendees (apart from being inebriated)  seem to willingly display an inordinate amount of flesh.  Indeed, as per the photographs in this note from the said Daily Mail, some appear to be only too  happy to pull up their skirts and display their underwear for photographers for general public consumption.

It is the conflation of these behaviours and views that our Martian traveller  might find hard to resolve. He would understand that if such garments are displayed against the wishes of a woman it is such a deeply personal matter that it becomes a horrendous crime.  However, the apparent willingness of many women to freely display their breasts and nether regions in public indicate that the exposure of their underwear is not of itself universally viewed by women as abhorrent. He would therefore have to conclude that the underwear exposure per se is an irrelevance; it is the violation of  a women’s wishes  (whatever they may be) that is the ‘horrific’ crime, whether that be a comment,  a touch, or an unwanted photograph. Maria Miller, therefore, should logically not relate the crime simply to the unwonted photographing of underwear, but to any acts which violate the wishes of a woman, whether  expressed before or after the fact.

More Aintree … is the one on the right an upskirt picture ? If the photographer took this without permission would he be liable under Ms Miller’s planned law... and what is it about Horse Racing that spurs women on to lifting their skirts to show their panties ?

Upskirt alert … panties on view

As a 15 year old schoolboy before sex was invented in the 1960’s and the arrival of tights, one of Grumpy’s pleasures on his trip to school was following a young woman up the stairs on a ‘double decker’ bus to be greeted by the sight of the bare flesh gap between stocking tops and (generally) Marks and Spencer  ‘big knickers’. He never thought of this as being particularly perverted, since the thrill seemed to be universally shared with all his  male contemporaries.  Now, in the current febrile feminist atmosphere, this simple youthful pleasure may become a criminal offence, even though it may be argued that there are existing laws which may be broken by those more threatening  and overt acts with mobile phones.

Maria Miller, acting as moral guardian, called up-skirting ‘horrific’, with the current penchant for labelling all crimes with extreme labels [No, Maria, beheading recorded by some Jihadi on a mobile, or FGM perpetrated on innocent young girls,  is ‘horrific’,  so find a lesser word for this admittedly anti-social act.]

However, like much of the current focus on matters sexual, there is an odd counterpoint. A quick scan of the celeb loving Daily Mail, shows multiple up-skirt pictures, along with a variety of other ‘wardrobe malfunctions’ for example

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4191096/Jessica-Cunningham-suffers-wardrobe-malfunction.html or  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2621229/Zo-Kravitz-flashes-pink-knickers-suffers-wardrobe-malfunction-vintage-themed-Met-Gala.html or  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5065629/Olivia-Culpo-reveals-daring-outfit.html or http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3117257/Emmauelle-Chriqui-puts-leggy-display-thigh-split-white-dress-Entourage-London-premiere.html

The accompanying text in one of these incidents reads  “The former Miss Universe looked ready to board a pirate ship in her Burberry ensemble which was saucily unbuttoned to show off more than she bargained for” .

This is plain disingenuous moonshine.  Of course she bargained, nay, planned, for itIf a female dons a dress  split to the navel, common sense would dictate that there is a high probability of revealing underwear – or worse if she goes commando –  (of which there are many examples, but which Grumpy has omitted for the sake of decorum).

The simple, real world, fact is that these actresses / celebs / reality stars “suffer”  these malfunctions either through rank stupidity or precisely because they know that the flash of panty or crotch will put their picture in the press.

So, does Maria Miller envisage that the Daily Mail will be prosecuted for having their photographers taking the red carpet  up-skirt photographs?  And how is the conflict to be resolved between a man taking a mobile phone picture of a woman accidentally flashing her panties in the park at lunchtime, and the Daily Mail doing exactly  the same thing on the red carpet ?

Or is it part of growing philosophy that womankind may tease, flash, flaunt and titillate mankind to any extent for monetary gain by exploiting hapless, libidinous males – what has been called ‘erotic capital’ –  whilst demanding ever more severe sanctions for any response, however minimal, to same ?

Builders beware … wolf whistling a passing girl with a skirt chosen to be above her butt may  in the future be rewarded by jail time.