Viral NYC subway flasher caught - Dickflash.com mourns?

Jezebel follows up with the story of the awesome take-no-prisoners attitude of the woman in the video above, who, after being flashed by a creep on the NYC subway, gave him the tongue-lashing of a lifetime, which drew the attention of her fellow passengers and led to the man's arrest.

But not everyone is delighted to see the flasher caught: Jezebel reports on the incredibly creepy world of Dickflash.com, a community for men who get off on exposing themselves nonconsensually to women and girls:

The forum is full of useful tips, such as:
* How to obtain fake license plates for "carjacking."
* How to properly photograph the act -- "the tasks of keeping the dick & female in the same frame while jerking and being aware of your surroundings is somewhat overwhelming while at a spa or outdoor park," complained one commenter.
* How to hide your genitalia with books and newspapers, just enough to avoid being caught. "It is all about positioning," commented the aptly-monikered "Crazy Jerking."

Click through for even more creepiness. Apparently, the site is owned by AdultFriendFinder, who share corporate parentage with Penthouse.

The Disturbing World Of Dickflash.com

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Tensegrity

Also, this favorably reminds me of an article I once saw about Japanese train gropers with a pic of an alleged groper being held face down on a train platform by a bystander using a textbook perfect jujitsu submission hold.

Couldn’t turn it up in a quick google search but it was awesome.
Anonymous

This reminded me that many years ago as my sister was coming out of a nightclub with a girl friend of hers, a flasher ‘caught their attention’. The girlfriend, a pro figure skater, kicked him in the balls. HARD. They left him rolling on the pavement in pain and were still laughing about it weeks later.
Anonymous

“now THAT is an empowered woman!”

welcome to NYC hahaha… that’s what they’re all like
dculberson

Awesome job, lady! That was great.

A few years ago we had a flasher going around downtown Columbus, Ohio. He would expose himself and take a picture of the woman’s reaction. A friend of mine was flashed by him. Her telling the story was great; apparently the guy was wearing a trench coat and jumped in front of her. She said she had a busy day, and had a hearing to go to. He still opened his coat up, and was of course naked underneath. Does she freeze and pull a stupid face? Nope, she dumped her full cup of piping hot coffee all over him. I told her that she was my favorite person ever for doing that.

Turns out the guy was legal counsel for the Ohio House Republican Caucus.
acb

I wonder how many flashers graduate to bigger things, such as rape, abduction or even serial killing. With a supportive community of fellow deviants reminding them that their deviancy is OK, that they’re not pathetic losers but elite predators and the uncaring straight world was put there to be their prey, I suspect escalation may not be uncommon.
holtt

I wonder if they have a section for fan fiction. Dickensian style I’m sure would be popular. That and PKD.
tsukiii

This woman is awesome! She’s not letting that creeper get away with making her feel violated.
Anonymous

Hahaha That’s awesome. The SAME exact thing happened to me in the ttc… When I realized what the jerk was doing I elbowed him in the solar plexus and got the fuck out of there. I still felt disgusting and when I told my mom about it she looked at me as if it was my fault somehow. Well it wasnt, there’s a whole freaking culture out there of people doing this? Ugh.
Manooshi

Not surprised at all that Dickflash.com is owned by the STD-ridden AdultFriendFinder. Thanks for the nasty reminder of my pathologically dishonest douchebag ex!

Anyway, glad this lady stood up for her rights and got this particular douchebag arrested! Yay feminist chicks!
Anonymous

Had not seen that video of that woman before. She’s amazing. He’s clearly not enjoying it anymore.
frankieboy

good for you Sister! I feel better about my daughter riding the subway knowing women like her are around.
Mitch

A person can pay a reasonable fee to have someone watch them masturbate live on web cam and give whatever kind of verbal reaction they would like. Maybe it’s not the same as flashing a stranger on a train, but it’s a fair compromise and the person on the other end has consented to it.

Exhibitionism isn’t evil, but it is necessary to find a way to act on it in an ethical way without involving unwilling participants.
Michael Smith

Honestly people, don’t feed the trolls. They are just body parts.
- Dirk
  
  Really? “Don’t feed the trolls” is your response?
  
  If a flasher exposed himself to your wife/daughter/mother/sister would you tell her it’s “just body parts”?
  - nutbastard
    
    “If a flasher exposed himself to your wife/daughter/mother/sister would you tell her it’s “just body parts”?”
    
    Yes… OMG a penis! So what?
    
    It’s only our puritanical indoctrination that shapes anatomical taboo (well, and a sense of the aesthetic. there’s a reason the phrase ‘bumping uglies’ exists) in the first place. Personally, I think that if someone wants to go nude or whatever, go for it. They aren’t actually hurting anyone.
    
    Now, that said, jerking your dick in front of a stranger in a public place is about as cool as running into a church and yelling “Fuck shit pussy dick balls!”. It’s disruptive and cognitively invasive.
    
    Besides, if everyone learned the appropriate reaction (point and laugh hysterically) this would be less of a problem. The taboo and illegal nature of the act is 90% of its allure to the pervs. Get rid of that and it just wouldn’t be as exciting anymore.
  - Pres
    
    I’m not convinced that exposure in itself harms people much. But I do have a problem with a guy who recently unzipped and tried to grab my girlfriend’s butt.
- Tensegrity
  
  Did you watch the video before commenting?
  
  She clearly says that he was “pressing up against” her. At that point it’s more than just a body part. That is targeted non-consensual sexual contact. You are free to minimize it, but this is sexual assault.
  
  Also, the subject of this post is inaccurate as this crosses the line and is more than “flashing”.
  - nutbastard
    
    agreed that if contact was made, it’s legitimately criminal in the purest sense of the word, and the man should face charges.
    
    how come everyone loves a streaker, yet hates a flasher?
    - Mitch
      
      “how come everyone loves a streaker, yet hates a flasher?”
      
      Yeah, there seems to be some incongruity there! The mood and intent are way different, though. We have flouting social mores for a thrill in front of a lot of people vs targeting one person and involving her in a sexual situation without her consent.
      
      I hope streakers are not being charged with sex crimes.
      
      The same is true of people urinating outdoors. Sometimes you just gotta go when a proper restroom isn’t available. It seems pretty inappropriate to charge someone with lewd and lascivious behavior if they try to find the best cover available and don’t let anyone see “the plumbing”, but it happens sometimes.
seachange

Not everyone who gets flashed is going to be traumatized but a good many people are. Flashing is sexual assault and it’s not helping those who have been hurt by it to dismiss their hurt as mere prudery.
jimbuck

Lots of little comments:
- Way to go! I hope my daughters will be strong enough to do the same!
- There’s non-zero chance this pervert is wanted in some other way.
- Anyone surprised by this woman’s reaction hasn’t spent much time in NYC.
Anonymous

I don’t like flashers, but I also don’t like laws against flashers. Maybe we should have their genitalia painted bright pink on first offence, so that they’re visually less offensive to people?
jimbuck

He’s got a name. And he’s been arrested. He’ll have 4 months in prison — plenty of time to show people his penis.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?
section=news/local/new_york&id=7808543
Miss Jess

I was flashed while standing on my first-floor apartment patio in college. I was outside talking on the phone, spray painting something on the patio. Turned around, guy was standing in the main building doorway next to my patio jerking off, with a hat on and his tee pulled over his face. Knew what he was doing, but didn’t look down at his crotch, was still on the phone, so I didn’t react. I pretty much just glanced his way, calmly picked up my artwork, walked inside and locked the door. My friend on the phone said my voice never changed! Guess that means I’m good in weird situations. Anyway, called the police and they were there instantly as this guy was a serial flasher in my complex. They caught him a few days later, and told me that he stated in his questioning that he “disappointed with several women who didn’t react”. That made me very happy, I was one of those and I didn’t give him what he wanted! It DID traumatize me later that day though, because I lived alone and was scared he would come back (because he knew where I lived). I slept with a butcher knife, and eventually just went to my boyfriend’s house to spend the night. Residual scariness – it was more a violation of my privacy, which scared me.
OliveGlen

Oh! When I was last visiting New York I was on a a midday subway and this middle ages guy in with track pants comes into the car to stand right in front of my friend and I (two 23 year old women,) his erect penis in our faces (and a stupid grin on his.) My friend, shocked, started elbowing me and whispering to me, and he was getting noticeably more excited by this: this was the point that revolted me the most! This guy was a complete pervert! Stuff letting him embarrass us AND get his kicks at the same time! So I yelled a bit and pointed at his crotch. Then I was embarrassed, actually I felt completely violated, but at least he didn’t get off on it….

Next time I’ll get him locked up too like this awesome lady!
Truthism

Where is their exposÃ© of chatroulette, where men not only talk about flashing, but do it by the thousands? And still women go there and watch. Someone should really call the Cyber Police.
Anonymous

It would be wrong—wrong!—to organize a DDOS against dickflash.com, and if someone told me how to participate, I certainly wouldn’t gleefully join in.
Goblin

Boingboing seems to be suggesting with this article that certain information is in fact “illegal” or criminal. I agree, I think sites like the one here should be closely monitored at the very least and preferably taken down. Yet I can’t help but wonder wonder how the, “No information is illegal” lobby would feel about their principle supporting sites like the creepy borderline criminal one attacked here. Aren’t websites like the one above self-contained arguments for enforcing some sort of decency standards on the web? I know it is a contentious issue, but I am confused by the apparent contradiction between supporting information on an anti-police site and condemning the information on a creepy one.

To explain I link to the London Police Shut Down Anti-Police Website comments where most people bristled at the thought of any information being declared “illegal” Yet that is very much what seems to be implied here.
Anonymous

For anyone wondering just who in the hell are the people who support the use of porno-scanners in airports besides lobbyists, politicians, and the TSA, I think we have our answer.
Pres

Anyway, that lady was courageous!
soongtype

[quote]Dickflash.com, a community for men who get off on exposing themselves nonconsensually to women and girls[/quote]

This is incorrect. There’s a section for female flashers as well. There is also a section for male-male flashing. Both of these sections can be seen in the screenshot on the Jezebel article.
Anonymous

Now THAT is an empowered woman – kick some butt lady!
Sekino

Good for her! She did herself and many other women a favour. If a creep messes with you on a bus/subway, grab the instant opportunity for public humiliation. This guy will probably remember this episode every time he feels like exposing himself in public.