memnus: Pintsize in a leather harness, and "Support Alternative Lifestyles" (Support Alternative Lifestyles (QC))
Brian ([personal profile] memnus) wrote2007-11-14 07:03 pm
Entry tags:

Weird news story of the week

Man convicted for sex with bicycle (BBC News)

The headline would grab anyone's attention. The charge, "sexually aggravated breach of the peace by conducting himself in a disorderly manner and simulating sex," makes it sound like he was in the middle of the street at the time, which would be a different matter entirely. This turns out to be far from the case.

The act itself doesn't faze me. I've learned well that people do some bizarre stuff with their genitals. No, what weirds me out and makes this entirely fucked up is that this "breach of the peace" was performed in the man's own bedroom, behind a locked door. And for it, this gentleman has been placed on a sex offenders registry for three years.

Three years. For fucking his own bicycle, in his own locked bedroom. The hell???

(In the interest of fairness, this was a bedroom at a hostel. There may be rules in place at hostels regarding what is and isn't private space, but somehow I suspect that if the cleaners had walked in on him with another consenting adult, there would have been nothing more than a few blushes and a quickly closed door. Feel free to correct my assumptions here.)

Sex offenders registries help no one, when the innocent bicycle fetishist and the high school senior that happened to turn 18 before his high-school-senior girlfriend are lumped in with the serial stalkers and baby-rapists. That's a big gap, here, but two years from now nobody's going to look at this guy and see a guy caught in an embarrassing, but harmless situation. No, they'll see a sex offender, and treat him accordingly.

Sense of perspective, anyone?

click

[identity profile] ozzygoddess.livejournal.com 2007-11-15 05:12 am (UTC)(link)
It's because of people like him that I own a shotgun and keep my bicycle locked up in her room at night. Holy hell, what is the world coming to?

[identity profile] sithjawa.livejournal.com 2007-11-15 06:25 am (UTC)(link)
That's a seriously messed up ruling. Who are the damaged parties? Hopefully not the bicycle. How is humping a bicycle legally any different from masturbation? Is masturbation illegal in Scotland? Is there a "at least two people must be involved in all sex acts" law?

If anyone clips the headline, he will be known forever as "Bike Sex Man."

Possible explanation for the ruling: He was living in a hostel. His room would not be considered his own property and might be considered a public location.

Still, compare this article from 2000 also from the BBC. Apparently, Bike Sex Man today gets more prejudice than Gay Sex Man did in 2000. (Who writes these headlines?)

Or... in this case, was there any ruling? The article says that the Sheriff placed him on the Sex Offender List. Is this just something he can unilaterally do without passing it by the courts?

[identity profile] memnus.livejournal.com 2007-11-15 06:38 am (UTC)(link)
The "public location" explanation is the only thing I can think of that would make any sense at all. But still, locked door. I don't know a single specific thing about Scottish law, so can't speak to details. Though the fact that he apparently pled guilty doesn't bode well.

Bike Sex Man and Gay Sex Man - superheros defending pansexual causes across the world!

BBC has bizarre headline conventions. The guy who got in trouble for a racy editorial cartoon about the Spanish monarchy was referred to as the "royal sex cartoonist".

[identity profile] partly-cloudy.livejournal.com 2007-11-16 03:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Bike Sex Man and Gay Sex Man - superheros defending pansexual causes across the world!

That practically demands a Particle Man parody. :)

[identity profile] merrickkite.livejournal.com 2007-11-15 07:12 am (UTC)(link)
At the top of the brief article, it says bike sex man admitted to the "crime", however near the end it says he denies the offense. I really doubt there was a court procedure though. If there was, perhaps the journalist left that tid bit out?

I think there should be a jury for all persons submitted to be on a sex offender list.

[identity profile] janna.livejournal.com 2007-11-15 04:43 pm (UTC)(link)
yeah my mom was looking at the sex offender list around her home and found a name she knew. Was kind of shocked, and then realized it was the "sex with slightly underage girlfriend he'd been having sex with legally before he got too old." He's not a predator. They shouldn't put these silly little age difference things on there -- it should be for predators or repeat offenders. And I have *no* idea why what a man does with his bike in what he expected to be privacy is of any concern to me.