Urolagnia as a crime?

[xDeathSoulx]

Just now I watched an episode of Law&Order, in which a person faced four years to life in prison for installing toilet cams in public restrooms. I understand that taping people without permission is a crime, but still, life goes a bit too far. Furthermore, his urination fetish was called 'a disease' by the cops.

I was wondering, is that really the way the law sees people who like that kind of thing? Mentally ill perverts? Granted, installing toilet cams goes far but I'll admit I've seen my share of shots from them. What do you guys think?

[packrat]

Society looks badly at any kind of fetish.  They fail to realize that no matter how much they try to supress sexually urges and fetishes they will always be there.  Most of the people who condemn fetishes and the like are guilty of these things themselves.

Anyway, The guy wasn't imprisoned for looking at people pee, he was imprisoned for violating someone's privacy.  He'd have gotten the same thing if he spied on a girl's lockeroom with a webcam.  It's not a crime to look at someone pee unless you do it the way he did it: using spy equipment and without permission. I guaruntee that if pee fetishes were really a crime, bound2burst and ineed2pee would be out of business.  As long as the pron we look at doesn't involve children, it's legal.

[AliasnameTO]

And adding to what packrat said: according to psychologists, a fetish CAN be considered a mental illness if it causes the person anxiety and they don't want to be that way. Then they can get therapy or whatever to try to break it. But for those of us who have no problem being the way we are, we're as healthy as the people who just like tits n' ass.

[FallenStar]

Another example is an episode of "Bones" in which a "horse" fetish comes into play - these people go on "retreat" and ride each other as horses... xD

Bones and Booth (the two main characters) called those people sick, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong or illegal.

[xDeathSoulx]

Bones and Booth (the two main characters) called those people sick, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong or illegal.

Well, calling something sick or explicitly referring to it as a disease are two different things. These guys literally used the word 'disease' as well as 'mental illness.'

Anyway, I understand that taping people without permission is a crime. Still, though, would you sentence someone guilty of violating prviacy in such a way to life? I could understand a couple of years, maybe, but the rest of his life? That's hardcore>_>

[FallenStar]

Watching someone pee isn't and cannot be made illegal because in the end, no one really has permanent control of such things.

The "mentally" illness part of that show comes from the fact that the guy willingly entered a place he was *not* supposed to go and put video cameras where they were *not* supposed to go.

If watching someone pee themselves was illegal, why then 90% of all porn sites would be shut down and targeted much like lolicon sites are now.

[lulaby]

Like some people already pointed out, it is not the fetish itself that is illegal, it's the act of observing-and recording- people in their intimacy without them knowing that is. When your fetish drives you to do things like that, it is clearly having a negative impact on your life and it can be considered a mental illness.

I'm currently finishing my bachelor's degree in psychology. Psychologists consider having a fetish a sexual abnormality that is not necessarily a mental illness. What causes a fetish to become a mental illness is one (or more) of these:

1) When it becomes the only way to have pleasure (when "normal" sexual relations starts losing its appeal)
2) When it is kept as a secret from people you thrust (when even your best friends or your wife/girlfriend does not know about the fetish).
3) When the fetish drives you to act in any way that involves non-consenting people or people that are not able to understand the situation (paedophilia is the easiest example)

For example, a man with a peeing fetish is not considered mentally ill if he told his wife about it and they engage, in addition to normal sexual activities, in peeing activities once in a while, with the wife consenting.

I guess most of the people here on the board that would fall into the mentally ill category is because they keep their fetish as a secret. It can be relatively damaging to the perception of the self to never tell these things to the people you consider close.

I am not an expert in law, but I can pretty safely assure you cannot be arrested for having a fetish. However, I know that pictures of Loly (wetting themselves or not) is considered illegal in Canada because it promotes paedophilia, and I strongly suspect it is also considered illegal in the U.S.A.

Well, that's pretty much it...

[xDeathSoulx]

Like some people already pointed out, it is not the fetish itself that is illegal, it's the act of observing-and recording- people in their intimacy without them knowing that is. When your fetish drives you to do things like that, it is clearly having a negative impact on your life and it can be considered a mental illness.

Yeah, I guess you're right. And like you siad, if those three points are the criteria, I could be considered mentally ill as well, but even knowing that I'm still not likely to tell anyone. It's just that I don't like to imagine their reaction to it, mostly because I know what their thoughts about this are. I'm not about to install spycams, though, that's a bit too much. Even so, I have seen footage from spycams, and whether those recordings were legal or not didn't bother me so much. (legal here being that the involved person had given their permission, and not related to age. I only go under eighteen in drawn scenes.)

[Serika]

Still, though, would you sentence someone guilty of violating prviacy in such a way to life? I could understand a couple of years, maybe, but the rest of his life? That's hardcore>_>

As of 2004, it's a misdemeanor with a maximum sentance of 1 year. (source) You would probably get fines and probation unless you annoy the judge. In that episode you watched, was this the only thing the suspect did? Nothing else?

I guess most of the people here on the board that would fall into the mentally ill category is because they keep their fetish as a secret.

Not just this board. The whole world is just one big mad house.

[packrat]

Still, though, would you sentence someone guilty of violating prviacy in such a way to life? I could understand a couple of years, maybe, but the rest of his life? That's hardcore>_>

As of 2004, it's a misdemeanor with a maximum sentance of 1 year. (source) You would probably get fines and probation unless you annoy the judge. In that episode you watched, was this the only thing the suspect did? Nothing else?

It wasn't so much the act that got them that much, it was the fact that he had an apartment full of recordings.  He probably had to serve his term for each vid consecutively. 

I guess most of the people here on the board that would fall into the mentally ill category is because they keep their fetish as a secret.

Not just this board. The whole world is just one big mad house.

True, everyone has something they don't tell other people.  It's just the way things are.  We as a society are taught to look down on people like us.  Therefore most of us who have a fetish of any kind expect that if their secret got out they would be ridiculed and hated for it, which of course forces us to keep these things secret from those around us.

[lurker]

I don't think they meant his fetish was a disease but the fact that he took it so far as to invade others privacy.  I think that is what they were disgusted with...a lot of people don't care what you're into.  What happens and what you like is your own business to a lot of people, it's when it affects others that people get uncomfortable...kind of like if someone had a fetish for watching people sleep..no one would care...unless he's perched outside your window every night.

[Loki275]

Did he really get four years to life? I know its just a show but still, that's so stupid. Spying on someone is not ok, but there are still people doing way worse crimes that get off with only a slap on the wrist.

[poo1234567890]

In one way it's a curse, and in another a blessing - think of it this way - in some instances when something happens in real life and you shouldn't be turned on but are, it's a curse, but in the pleasure we get it's a blessing. 

[Lady_Blue]

In one way it's a curse, and in another a blessing - think of it this way - in some instances when something happens in real life and you shouldn't be turned on but are, it's a curse, but in the pleasure we get it's a blessing. 

I second that. I don't know how many times I've felt almost ashamed about enjoying this so much. Kinda wish I almost had a more "acceptable" fetish. As bad as that sounds >.<

[Tru]

It's funny, but somehow it has simply never occurred to me that the way people with fetishes are ostracized and looked down upon, and they way they tend to hide it and even hate it in themselves, parallels the struggles of LGBT people. I mean:

In one way it's a curse, and in another a blessing - think of it this way - in some instances when something happens in real life and you shouldn't be turned on but are, it's a curse, but in the pleasure we get it's a blessing. 

I second that. I don't know how many times I've felt almost ashamed about enjoying this so much. Kinda wish I almost had a more "acceptable" fetish. As bad as that sounds >.<

I like to think that the human race is moving in a direction where we can all be accepting about our own and others' sexuality. Where gays and lesbians can get married, and where it won't weird people out if you tell your boyfriend/girlfriend on your first date that you enjoy watersports. It's a shitty feeling to wish that your personal tastes and preferences be different just because other people have irrational fears about them.