Indecent Exposure

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2022

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It can happen on a bus, in a park, in your home, at the school gates. An estimated one in every ten women in England and Wales have reported it happening to them.

So why do people flash? And when did it become criminalised?

Indecent exposure is when someone deliberately exposes their genitals in order to frighten or upset someone else. It is difficult to prove, and has been prosecuted under a number of different laws during our history.

In this episode, Kate speaks to Professor of Psychology Dr. Elizabeth Jeglic from John Jay College of Criminal Justice to find out why people commit indecent exposure. Then, she speaks to Professor Kim Stevenson from the University of Plymouth about how indecent exposure and other sexual offences have been policed in the UK.

*WARNING there is discussion of sexual assault, rape and child abuse in this episode*

Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Sophie Gee.

Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. A podcast by History Hit.

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https://www.btp.police.uk/ro/report/rsa/alpha-v1/advice/rape-sexual-assault-and-other-sexual-offences/indecent-exposure-flashing-offending-public-decency/

Transcript

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0:00.0	Everyone leaves a legacy.
0:02.2	But a legacy can change over time as new generations
0:05.6	re-examine old preputations.
0:07.6	From Wundery and Gohanger podcasts, I'm F4hersh.
0:11.0	I'm Peter Frankapan, and in a brand new series,
0:14.0	we're exploring the lives of some of the biggest characters in history,
0:17.4	from Napoleon to Picasso.
0:19.2	And asking, what does their past tell us about our present?
0:23.4	This is legacy.
0:24.7	Follow now wherever you get your podcasts.
0:30.4	Hello, my lovely betwixters.
0:33.9	This is Kate Lister, and I am here with quite a serious warning about today's episode.
0:38.4	Today, we are looking at the crime of indecent exposure,
0:41.4	or flashing to use the vernacular,
0:43.4	and the history of how this crime was policed.
0:45.8	So inevitably, we are going to be talking about sexual assault,
0:49.2	sexual harassment, and we do have a number of personal testimonies
0:53.6	of people who have been the victims of this crime.
0:56.2	This is not an easy listen, but it's an important listen.
0:59.8	But it's also one that you just might not want to listen to today,
1:03.4	and that's absolutely fine.
1:10.5	Today's episode came out of an experience that one of my producers, Sophie, had.
	...

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