What is your take on the whole "Women Who Eat on the Tube" Facebook group?

[653]

And all the associated outcry? For those who are not aware, some guy has started up a FB group which allows people to take photos of women eating food on public transport and posting it up for people to comment on. Understandably, there has been a bit of an outcry, and calls of 'sexism' etc. What is also concerning is that some women have taken it upon themselves to post the identities of the people who post pics of women eating, as a sort of revenge tactic (am not sure if this is actually true, have not researched it - just what I read on the Daily Mail so could well be a bunch of horse pooey).

So, is it sexist? Is it ethical? Would it be OK if the genders were reversed? Is it ethical for the details of people who post to be made published as some kind of revenge tactic?

I find this debate fascinating because I believe in freedom of speech, I don't believe people should get fussed about each and every thing, but, at the same time, I do not believe posting the personal image or details of ANYONE on a public forum for any reason is morally defensible. It just seems like a huge violation to me.

Some guy blatantly took a photo of me on the tube once (I was not eating or anything, just sitting there) and there was literally nothing I could do about it. God knows why he wanted it but it just felt so wrong that a random stranger can take my picture and there is nothing I can do about it.

Your thoughts?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree...men-who-ea
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree...cial-media

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014...t-on-tubes

[Innara]

Why is it even a thing to take photo's of unsuspecting people and make nasty comments about them? I really don't understand where that comes from, sounds like the guys who do that are just complete bitches.

I don't know if it's legally wrong, but god damn can't they find a better past time? Maybe people that are that act so childish, cattish and idiotic shouldn't have access to mobile phones to begin with.

If the genders were reversed I would say the same thing.

[Ya Coffee]

People should not be able to take pictures of anyone anywhere who they don't know and publish them on the web - it's an invasion of privacy. In this case there are sexist overtones - fat women eating anything is a stereotype and sexy women putting anything into their mouth is another. I find this hugely offensive in many ways and I hope that people charge them with invasion of privacy if that is at all possible - if it's not, it should be.

Thanks for this - I hadn't heard of it before.

[biker]

I agree with the comments above. This is blatant sexism towards women!!

How dare those men take pictures of women eating, that too on a public transport AND THEN upload on social networking sites AND THEN allow people to comment on it? Imagine the pain and trauma those women face. Poor damsels.

This is blatant sexism. Those misogynistic pigs must be prosecuted.

[Katie]

Taking pictures of someone eating so people can comment on it. I have lost some of what little faith I had left in humanity.

And yes I think it's okay for the identities of the people taking the pictures to be posted. Give them a taste of their own medicine. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from criticism.

[TheBellJar]

Hate speech is listed as a exception to freedom of speech in the US constitution. Cyber bullying is nothing but hate speech and those people are also committing libel in some cases. But no I don't think retaliation is wrong considering no one is doing the right thing by victims of cyber bullying so they end up having to retaliate on their own in all kinds of ways. For instance back when MySpace was a big deal someone made a profile of me with all kinds of hateful things written on it with my picture. I was lucky I knew exactly who it was. Since MySpace just ignored me for a month I was eventually forced to do it back to him to get him to take it down. As soon as he saw the same thing done to himself he took mine down and cried, and ironically threatened me with his local sheriff. I didn't like doing it.This is what we have to do, because these site owners just refuse to be responsible and no one holds them accountable.

[M]

It is never acceptable to take pictures of another person without their consent -and in some areas, it's illegal. Taking pictures to post them to the internet with a creepy, bullying/shaming vibe, is extra creepy. It's not as bad as the 'creepshots' thing where they intentionally take upskirt photos and such and post them, but it's still extremely weird to even WANT to take pictures of strangers and share them in that way. Given the nasty comments people make about the images, I do think this is sexist -the idea seems to be 'how dare these women eat food in public' (or in some cases, 'how dare these women eat when I personally find them overweight'). It's not ethical, it is sexist, and while it wouldn't be sexist if the genders were reversed (because the gender norms for men and women are different, and men are rarely if ever shamed for eating), it would still be unethical and unacceptable. It's violating people's privacy.
It's also not ethical to post the details of the posters, although I can see where they're coming from -'if those posters believe it's ok to violate another person's privacy and post their location and photo online, then surely they would have no objection to their own info being posted online, right? Unless they're hypocrites who need a taste of their own medicine', is presumably the mentality.

HOWEVER -this is not a freedom of speech issue. Freedom of speech means freedom from government interference, freedom from government censorship. It does not mean other people are not allowed to call you out on your creepy, abusive behaviours, nor does it mean that privately-owned companies (such as Facebook) can't make a moral decision to shut you down. It also doesn't give you the right to violate people's privacy; while freedom of speech is important, there are always limits -you shout 'FIRE' in a crowded theatre, there d@mn well better be a fire, etc. I believe violating other people's privacy and engaging in bullying tactics is also/should also be a limit to free speech.

[True Blue Brit]

What a strange world we live in. A few years ago we had "happy slapping" for example, and now we have this kind of thing.
People simply don't have enough to do.