# High school senior pulls yearbook photo prank. Are the charges excessive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 4, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946 "2016-05-04T21:57:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2016, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/61 "2016-05-08T23:25:17Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Proof is in the pudding is in the eating. Still enough prudish puritanicals to make life miserable for everyone else. Certainly not the only example in this thread. Does my disapproval of weenie-waggers make life miserable for you? Why is that? ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/62 "2016-05-08T23:27:38Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Weinie-waggers have been considered sex offenders since the concept of sex offenses became part of the law of the land. Good luck in getting that changed, most people are not going to agree with you. A good definition of pervert for a situation like this is one who involves non-consenting people in his sexual activities for his own amusement and pleasure. That’s what this guy did. It wasn’t an accident. He made a decision, specifically, to display his genitals to the camera in order to shock people. Would you be as sanguine if he displayed his doodle to your wife or child? Should mooning be a sex offense? What if you get a little fruit bowl in with it? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/63 "2016-05-08T23:42:31Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Does my disapproval of weenie-waggers make life miserable for you? Why is that? If you agree with those who would want to criminalize this act, yes. Your (a nationwide your, not any one single person) lack of a sense of perspective leads to a system which treats a mostly-harmless, dumb-as-shit prank the same as truly criminal sex acts. Zero tolerance needs zero intelligence and makes zero sense. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/64 "2016-05-09T00:16:58Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Were you going to define pervert? > > No I don’t think that should be a sex offense. For a start it doesn’t involve sex. I’m far from puritanical, but when you get things like grown men openly and deliberately flashing their genitals at strangers in the park, yes, that it sexual behavior and yes, it should be illegal. Do you really think that when a stranger draws attention to the fact that he’s looking at you and stroking his dick that there isn’t a sexual component? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/65 "2016-05-09T01:11:26Z")
The kid in the picture wasn’t looking at an audience, he was looking at a camera. And I suspect the appeal was more in being naughty and flaunting social norms than as a “sexual act”. See, that’s the thing - a visible penis is not an inherently sexual act. Sometimes it’s just a penis. A fleshy appendage that 49% of the human race has between their legs. Sometimes it’s used for sex but far more often it’s used for pissing and sometimes it’s just hanging out waiting for something to do. Now, _some_ people expose it in public to get a reaction out of folks, but part of that is _seeing their reaction_, which the kid in the photo in question won’t. And even when it is a sexual act I don’t consider it in the same league as, for example, rape. It definitely is a lesser offense than some others. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/66 "2016-05-09T02:06:56Z")
I was responding to the comment that exposing oneself should never be considered a sex crime. I think there are times when it very much is. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/67 "2016-05-09T02:11:07Z")
> [@](#): > > which the kid in the photo in question won’t. I’m sure he’s failing to notice all of these reactions and is not getting off on it. And he’s not a “kid” he’s an adult. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/68 "2016-05-09T10:08:05Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > A good definition of pervert for a situation like this is one who involves non-consenting people in his sexual activities for his own amusement and pleasure. It wasn’t a sexual activity. > [@](#): > > Would you be as sanguine if he displayed his doodle to your wife or child? Yes. My wife and older son would just laugh at him. My younger boy would ask “why is that man doing that” and I’d say “to be silly”. Some of us aren’t prudes. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/69 "2016-05-09T10:10:25Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I’m far from puritanical, but when you get things like grown men openly and deliberately flashing their genitals at strangers in the park, yes, that it sexual behavior and yes, it should be illegal. Do you really think that when a stranger draws attention to the fact that he’s looking at you and stroking his dick that there isn’t a sexual component? Do you really think after 15 years and 12,000 posts I’m going to fall for this sort of bait’n’switch? Seriously? Give me \*some \*credit. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/70 "2016-05-09T10:45:19Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Does my disapproval of weenie-waggers make life miserable for you? Why is that? It makes the world a worse place, yes. It teaches people to be ashamed of their bodies. Rather than actually focus on actual sexual acts, you pick a non-sexual one, which has the same effect as D.A.R.E. did for drugs–making people ignore the actual problems. It’s the type of argument that is leading to those bathroom bills–people thinking the penis is so horrible they have to protect women from accidentally see one in the bathroom. Because the penis is inherently sexual, trans women with penises must be perverts. There are times where exposing oneself is actually a sexual act. There are other times when it isn’t. And, given the evidence we have, this wasn’t. He’s just a childish dude trying to get something naughty past the censors at his school. The reaction he wanted was “Cool, man! You really got them!” Hence calling it a “prank.” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/71 "2016-05-09T10:51:10Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Would you be as sanguine if he displayed his doodle to your wife or child? Doodle? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/72 "2016-05-09T11:28:54Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Doodle? Homer, I can see your doodle. Shut up, Flanders. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/73 "2016-05-09T12:16:35Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The reaction he wanted was “Cool, man! You really got them!” Hence calling it a “prank.” Yeah, I’ve been a high school teacher since 1985. I’m pretty well acquainted with high school pranks. They do not typically run to public exposure of the genitals. It takes a very sex offenderish mindset to come up the idea that exposing one’s penis to unconsenting people is “cool.” Sex offenders seldom just go straight to being full-blown molesters and rapists. They start with lesser offenses and escalate over time. This guy decided that exposing his penis to others without their consent was something he would enjoy doing. That flags him, right there, as one who should be treated with caution. What would seal the deal for me is to talk to him for five minutes. If he considers himself the victim in all this, I’d say he belongs on a Megan’s Law website right away. That was one of the unifying themes among the adjudicated sex offenders with whom I worked. The only thing they were ever sorry about was getting caught and getting punished. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/74 "2016-05-09T13:19:21Z")
OK, you say this is typical of how sex offenders start out… but how many people who have mooned someone or flashed their dick in high school later became sex offenders? Your attitude still seems to smack of guilty due to penis possession. It’s like saying that being sexually abused is a common backstory to pedophiles so sexual abuse victims should be flagged as potential pedophiles, but most victims don’t become abusers. I’m not convinced most high school dick flashers become sexual offenders down the road. Do you have something to support your position other than your opinion? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/75 "2016-05-09T14:24:27Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > It takes a very sex offenderish mindset… Is this something we can look up in the DSV or is it just one of those “I have a feeling” type things? Can you maybe tell by the shape of their skull or by seeing if they float like wood when you throw them in a pond? > [@](#): > > They start with lesser offenses and escalate over time. Did you know more or less every hard drug user started out drinking milk? ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/76 "2016-05-09T14:54:55Z")
Another vote for stupid, but not sex offender behavior. He should be punished in some way, but this was just a prank. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/77 "2016-05-09T15:05:08Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Is this something we can look up in the DSV or is it just one of those “I have a feeling” type things? Can you maybe tell by the shape of their skull or by seeing if they float like wood when you throw them in a pond? > > Did you know more or less every hard drug user started out drinking milk? We’re going to have to agree to disagree on this. I disapprove of weenie-waggers and that bothers you. The end. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/78 "2016-05-09T15:46:20Z")
kid was an idiot and it was an incredibly stupid thing to do, but man, those charges are like burning your house down to kill a spider. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/79 "2016-05-09T18:45:14Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Very glad sanity prevailed. Now the kid can focus on college and his future. Yep, he got away with this one, who knows what exciting new things he will get away with in college. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946/80 "2016-05-09T20:29:17Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Yep, he got away with this one, who knows what exciting new things he will get away with in college. Probably wake up in a drunken stupor after a frat party with a dick drawn on his face. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-senior-pulls-yearbook-photo-prank-are-the-charges-excessive/753946.md?page=5)