Photographers won’t face charges for supplying water polo pictures

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So the photographers who took deck-side photos of high school water polo players and then allegedly sold the images to web sites that featured homosexual material won’t have criminal charges filed against them, according to the OC Register.

I guess we can all cheer for the whole ‘freedom of speech’ thing now, right?

I find it difficult to get excited about this first amendment victory, though.

At the very least, these photographers showed questionable judgment and are downright icky by any measure. Providing content of minors to sexually-oriented sites legally prohibited to minors may not be criminal by law -- my suspicion is that the Orange County district attorney’s office made every effort to find any kind of violation -- but it seems a no-brainer that there should be a legal statute for ‘general bad behavior.’ You can’t define it, but you know it’s wrong.

But let’s be real, too: Girls and women have been subjected to this stuff forever, so the boys shouldn’t think for one moment that their situation is unique. Now they simply know how the other half feels. But that doesn’t make it right.

For more background on this story, check here and here and here.

-- Martin Henderson