Flasher’s Remorse
Wrongly Expecting Privacy
By Daniel Muniz
Does a woman have a reasonable expectation of privacy if she
voluntarily pulls up her shirt and bra to flash her breasts in a
crowded public outdoor event?
Tonya Barnhart certainly thinks so.
The 29 year-old retail clerk attended the Toop’s Troops Second
Annual Pig Roast, a “bring your own alcohol” fundraising event
targeted towards motorcycle enthusiasts and bikers. The rowdy
outdoor bash, which had plenty of music, food, games, and vendors
hawking motorcycling paraphernalia, attracted a couple hundred
people. The gathering also attracted the attention of a few
motorcycle magazines.
After quite a bit of drinking, women started pulling up their
shirts and bras to flash their breasts in exchange for beads.
In this festive Mardi Gras like atmosphere, Barnhart was
voluntarily lifted onto the shoulders of two partygoers where she
then willingly pulled up her top to show her breasts to the crowd.
As fate would have it, independent photographer Bill Cromwell who
likes to submit his work to motorcycle magazines, snapped a
photograph precisely when Barnhart publicly exposed her boobs.
Cromwell later submitted that picture to Easyriders magazine, a
publication geared specifically towards motorcycle enthusiasts, who
then published that picture in its 2005 edition.
Tonya Barnhart didn’t mind lifting her top to a couple hundred
people but she was incensed to discover that the entire audience of
this motorcycle magazine’s circulation would now enjoy viewing her
endowment. She immediately filed a lawsuit against Paisano
Publications, the owner of Easyriders, for invasion of privacy
Barnhart asserts that when she flashed her breasts, it was really
a private act.
And even though two hundred people had shown up to the pig roast
and the event was available to anyone willing to purchase a ticket,
she claims that she was really inside a pocket of about ten people
that she already knew and trusted. In other words, she exposed
herself only to friends instead of to the public even though she was
partying in a crowded outdoor facility in an event that was open to
the public. Needless to say that she was already quite visible
because she was sitting on top of the shoulders of two men.
Even so, Barnhart contends that she never gave consent to anyone
to take pictures of her when she flashed her breasts in a very
public and crowded place.
Of course Barnhart’s attorney attempted to bring up similar
issues such as the “Girls Gone Wild” case where two women exposed
themselves after they were told that their nude bodies would not
show up in any of the “Girls Gone Wild” series. The two women were
lied to and their naked bodies still ended up in the videos.
In addition, Barnhart’s attorney asserted that Easyriders
attempted to depict her as a trashy girl. Other lawsuits were
successful in this regard because adult magazines portrayed women in
similar instances as sluts and tramps. However, Easyriders caption
to the photograph of Barnhart’s bare breasts simply as “Pegging the
fun meter” instead of describing her as part of any sort of
debauchery or decadence.
However, U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz in Maryland didn’t
buy any of the arguments and dismissed the case.
Even though Barnhart may have felt that she was surrounded by a
handful of friends, she was in fact surrounded by two hundred people
and in full view of the public. Anyone could have observed her
breasts when she flashed them thus photographer Bill Cromwell didn’t
violate anyone’s privacy because this flasher momentarily made her
boobs available for the entire public to enjoy.
In addition, Barnhart sat at an elevated height when she was top
of the shoulders of two men. By being lifted up high in the air, she
would be giving much greater exposure when she flashed her
endowment.
As for bringing up the “Girls Gone Wild” case, those plaintiffs
were lied to. At the pig roast, no agreement was ever made with
anyone. And since it was a public event that anyone could show up
to, anyone could also take pictures of anything that was there.
And as for the magazines, their benign caption had nothing to do
with defaming her character or degrading her.
In summary, Tonya Barnhart had a case of “flasher’s remorse.”
She was partying and having a good time at this pig roast when
she engaged in outrageous behavior by pulling up her top and
flashing her boobs for the whole world to see. She probably had a
lot of fun exposing herself.
Such an incident happens all the time especially at the rowdier
and more festive events. And from what is on the Internet, millions
of women don’t have a problem with multitudes of people enjoying
vivid pictures of their bare bodies. In fact, plenty of women
actually want the public to be titillated over their naked or
partially naked bodies on the net. And most of them aren’t bothered
that their nude images are circulating all over the world because
there are already millions of such pictures floating out in
cyberspace.
In the electronic age that we live in where digital cameras and
camera cell phones are cheap and plentiful, just about anybody can
snap a picture of anyone who indulges in adolescent behavior. But
such behavior is purely voluntary and it is unfortunate that
Barnhart doesn’t realize that it was solely her decision to flash
her boobs to the public. If she didn’t expose her boobs, then there
wouldn’t be any controversy or pictures.
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