Thomas Muther, Jr. is a frequent poster to the Flickr urban exploration group I moderate. He is pretty much the only nude male posing and – he is setting up the camera, posing and taking the photo on his own. His own model.
As a woman moderating the group I’m glad to see Thomas posting his photos. Without him the group would feel very sexually biased to me. But, I do wonder what other group members think. Likely most of them are male. Most urban explorers are still male and most of the people coming to look at nude people are coming to look at nude females. I’ve never asked him what kind of feedback, if any, he gets.
I could make this story quite lengthy, but to cut to the chase, after hitting me with a volley of questions–during which seven (7!!!!!!) other police cars pulled up–I was informed that a woman out walking her dog had seen me and reported the “incident” to the police. I was then belatedly informed of my rights, handcuffed, and taken to jail for “indecent exposure.” As they were putting the handcuffs on me, I was utterly dumbfounded. The only thing I managed to verbalize was, “why are you putting me in handcuffs?” which seems a reasonable question. Their reply? “Because that’s what we do to people who break the law!” If I’d had my wits about me, I might have rejoindered, “So, you put people in handcuffs who jaywalk?–or go 5 miles over the speed limit?”–but I was completely flummoxed. Thus, I ended up spending the night, and all the next day in jail. I finally managed to contact my sister who wired bail, and I got out late the next evening. With such a horrific charge hanging over my head, I hired an attorney (at $3500), as being a sexual predator registry for the rest of my life didn’t appeal. The charges were dropped after his intervention, so there were no long term consequences, but it was not a fun experience. The ridiculous over zealousness of these police cost me more than just the $3,500, obviously. Being in jail against your will when you’ve done nothing to deserve it really sucks (as opposed to being in jail for civil disobedience–which I’ve done three times . . . an entirely different feeling). Oh well. 🙁 Compared to the injustices committed by various trigger-happy police over the last months, I guess I shouldn’t complain.