LONDON (AFP) — A British court ruling that it is legal to ogle a man's chest but not a woman's breasts triggered a lively online debate about censorship on Friday.
The case emerged after a court last year found Kevin Bassett, 44, guilty under the 2003 Sexual Offences Act after he secretly filmed a man in his swimming trunks at a swimming pool.
But lawyers for the care home worker argued that the man's chest did not constitute "private parts" under the act, which referred only to women's breasts in such terms.
This was the case even if the man in question was obese, and had "man breasts" or "moobs," they said, cited by The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
A judge this week agreed, quashing the ruling because the judge in the initial case had failed properly to explain to the jury the difference between breasts and chest.
"The intention of parliament was to mean female breasts and not an exposed male chest," said Lord Justice Anthony Hughes. "The former are still private -- amongst 21st century bathers -- the second is not.
The Daily Telegraph report of the ruling drew varying views on the broadsheet's website.
"So it is OK for women to shamelessly flaunt their bodies, but illegal for men to look at them? Stupid," said one commentator, identified as Tom.
"Photographing another man in a swimming pool with a camera hidden in a plastic bag can now be considered 'normal' behaviour. Where will it all end -- think I'll emigrate!" added another, Douglas Tuck.
John P was dismissive of the whole debate. "There is so much immature twaddle about sex in England I don't wonder that both sexes get psychologically twisted."
In the original trial, the man who was filmed explained how he noticed the concealed video camera, pointed at him and his daughter.
"I noticed a middle-aged male on a bench holding a plastic bag. I noticed a hole at an angle pointing towards myself and my daughter. I walked towards him. I could see a circular shape through the hole.
"I had visions of my daughter being on the Internet. I said to him, 'Have you got a camera in there?' He said, 'No, no.' I was shaking and shouting."
Bassett eventually admitted he was filming, but denied he was interested in the girl. "It was the man I was interested in," he said, adding that he had tried to hide his homosexuality for years.
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