There’s a football (rugby league) competition between NSW and Queensland each year, the State of Origin, with the winner being the side who wins the most of the three games played. End of background.
This year, after the last State of Origin game, a story came out in the papers that a woman had been spotted urinating in her seat during the match. Yes, you read that correctly. A grown woman (44 y/o) drops her pants in the middle of a crowded stadium, slides partly off her seat, urinates, and then pulls her pants back up. Not once taking her eyes off the action on the field. Some days later, of course, a video of it hits YouTube.
Today, in the Brisbane Sunday papers, one of the columnists raised a curly question. Who was the worst-behaved, the woman who actually did the deed (gross as it was) or the low-life who taped it and put it on YouTube for the world’s delectation? A tricky one indeed, and one I’d value the opinion of fellow e-Hellions about. 0717-11
I went hunting for the video in question and found it. The middle-aged woman is perched on the edge of her plastic seat urinating into it creating a puddle in the dip/concave area of the seat. As she stands up, the seat flips back into upright position obviously draining the urine onto the floor and she pulls her pants back up and joins another female companion at the railing. She never missed a beat watching the game. And she very clearly mooned everyone behind her. She’s so engrossed in watching the game that she is utterly oblivious to the videographer cackling his head off as he films her.
So, who is the worst behaved? That’s like asking, “Which Barbarian is worse? The one that kills you with a sword or the one that kills you with a spear?” You are dead either way.
I’d have to say that this is somewhat a supply and demand issue. There are always voyeurs and creeps out there who would love to exploit a situation for their personal gratification and pleasure. They have the “demand”, i.e. the desire to view, witness and/or record the strange and bizarre. People like the peeing woman supply them with the material they crave. If there was no supply of crass, vulgar people behaving in socially bizarre ways, there would be no material for them to satisfy their cravings. So, if the woman had not peed in her seat in a public place, there would have been nothing to video, no YouTube publication, no brouhaha, no email to Ehell. So, I guess I come down harder on the woman for initiating the sequence of events.
But sure to come up in the comments is how often men urinate in public. In searching for an image to accompany today’s post, I happened upon *many* images of men just whipping it out to pee wherever their little bladders desired. Note to the guys, umm….that’s pretty gross, too. It’s one thing to take a leak in the woods well hidden away from sight but peeing in public places is just vulgar and disgusting.
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Hal: “Who wants to see that?” I don’t know. How many views does the video have?
That said, as far as I’m concerned, the peeing lady is the one who deserves roasting. It would be different if she were in a situation where there was no bathroom and had made some efforts to find as secluded a spot as possible, and the videographer had gone out of his way to intrude. But given that she was in an entirely public place, and made no efforts to keep it to herself, it’s all on her. It’s such a completely WTF thing to witness that I don’t even really blame the videographer for wanting to capture it.
Can I just point out that “pornographic” is defined as “1 : the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement
2 : material (as books or a photograph) that depicts erotic behavior and is intended to cause sexual excitement
3 : the depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction ”
and not just the showing of naked body parts.
Do you people consider an anatomy textbook to be “pornographic”?
And yes, the woman is a cretin. I’m only sorry her face wasn’t captured to complete her public humiliation .
And yes, the woman is a cretin and deserves to be publicly humiliated. I’m only sorry that the cuddled didn’t get a front on
My friend from college used to tell the story about how her and her roommates were in their room, just next to an alleyway when two drunk girls outside the (high) window came tottering up. Through the window, they could hear one of them going on about how ‘I really need to pee, I just can’t hold it… I’m goin right here, right now!” My friend, thinking fast, cried out in a deep voice, “THIS IS GOD- YOU SHALL NOT PEE HERE!”
All they heard was the click click of high heels as they scurried away.
even so, they didn’t use that alleyway for a while.
I have no problem with the person filming it. The woman deserved to have it posted on the interent.
Thankfully she has been charged with urination in a public place. At least now no one else will get the “bright” idea to pull this sort of stunt again. Absolutely disgusting.
Well, she doesn’t wipe so clearly the bulk of the E-hell damnation should go to her. :S
*cameraman, not cuddled.
A front on shot should have at least allowed the woman to be properly identified.
My favorite story ever- my uncle works at a quite famous golf course. At the time, the urinator wasn’t too well known, but still was fairly famous. Anyway he couldn’t hold it apparently and peed to the side of the golf course when he thought no one important was looking. (Aka, the majority of mexicans working in plain sight apparently did not count)
When he got on the campaign trail some time ago my uncle was like OMGOSH! THE URINATOR!
I guess since this is an etiquette site I can’t tell you who he was. But he’s very well known. 🙂
Confession: I went looking for, found and watched the video. It was a case of couldn’t really believe it until I saw it…..
I think woman who urinated should be the one in Ehell. Her act was disgusting and vulgar and I really hope she is charged. I am actually a little bit glad that this man chose to put the video on display. Yes, he did behave rather immaturely, however his actions will see her punished – as she should be.
In this day and age of everything technological, some could (and should) adapt the rule “if you don’t want it on YouTube, don’t do it in public”.
Geez. I think that the woman had to know that people would see it, so it being filmed is gross, but not really an etiquette breach against her.
Gross, gross, gross. What’s wrong with people?
A neighbor of mine often encouraged her little boy to urinate outside. In the neighborhood. Instead of walking into the house and using the restroom.
What’s worse is that at a neighbor’s house, she told her son to go urinate in THEIR yard instead of using the bathroom. The neighbor wasn’t pleased with that idea and vehemently offered the little boy her bathroom.
I don’t get it.
Both to e-hell but mostly the woman, (can’t call her a lady). News sites are reporting she has been identiied and fined, which I feel is appropriate. This is disgustingly antisocial, let alone an etiquette breach.
I thought this must have been a prank of some kind (who would behave like that? Seriously?) but apparently she was indeed a Queensland supporter and she did really do that. And she has been charged by the police.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/woman-charged-over-youtube-origin-urination-20110713-1hdee.html
I am embarrassed to be from the same state. :o(
Here’s what I don’t understand: none of the games were close enough to warrant not making it to the bathroom. I blame sheer laziness and she gets what she deserves.
Angeldrac, I was using the term in an inaccurate way, given how the video actually is. Perhaps “indecent” would have been better. Since I hadn’t seen the video (and definitely wasn’t going to go looking for it at work!) and the poster didn’t describe what was actually shown, I didn’t know if it showed just lower back/buttocks, or if it captured glimpses of her vulva as she peed (which would be indecent), or if it was outright pornographic, in the manner of upskirt shots, with the intention to incite arousal. There is, after all, a fetish for urination. Rule 34 of the internet: if it exists, there’s porn of it.
Anyway, my point was that if it crossed that line into porn, or even indecency, then the videographer is just as guilty by posting it to the world. But as long as it doesn’t cross that line, then the pee-er deserves a lower place in e-hell.
Having now seen the video, it doesn’t cross that line. All you see is blurry flesh.
If you are going to do outrageous things in public you are going to get caught on film sometimes. There is no expectation of privacy when dropping trou and taking a leak in front of one hundred thousand or so peeps.
Good for the cameraman for catching her out and posting it.
“Ew! I think they tie for equal E-Hell status. The peeing is very unpleasant and anti-social, but deliberately recirding it and putting it on you-tube? Just as bad”
The people viewing You Tube have a clear cut choice as to whether or not they make the choice to watch the video. The people in the stands did not have that option or choice. The woman deserved to be caught on tape and posted, I only think it’s unfortunate they didn’t capture her face. If that was one of my employees or something I would like to know about it.
I’m 50-50 on the person who filmed it – if it was done to warn others not to do vile things in public as it can be recored forever and be frowned upon by the wider public that’s one thing: if it was done out of sick fantasies and the woman’s privates were filmed then it would be so wrong. What this woman did was vile.
I have two stories: one at university at the student village during my first year I was walking to the shop on site. The student village is private property, members of the public aren’t allowed there even though some do no harm by walking their dogs as there are green spaces (the only time this isn’t okay is when they don’t clean up the dog mess).
Anyway, I’m walking to the shops and I see two men who clearly aren’t students (I’m probably making assumptions as well as deductions, it was the way they beheave and they way they were dressed, it was scuffy but not student scuffy) they were walking towards me and they stopped by one of the bungalows and were going to urinate. I stared at them and one said “look stop”. To my left there is a large dense clump of trees if they were really that desprate they should’ve gone in the trees and be a bit more private. They pass and I do glare/frown at them in disgust. They pass me and Iturn my head to keep and eye on them unil they are few feet away. Then one of them calls out “Excuse me, do you want to go for a meal/drink?” I said “no.” After what they done they are clearly not respectful towards students and I don’t date strangers espcially ones I see nearly pee in front of me. One then says “We’ll meet you at the bus stop at 6pm” I said “no I’m busy”. Although I wanted to say “I wasn’t born yesterday I don’t know who you are.” They then asked for my name and I gave them a fake name. About a week later I saw them again. They said they had waited for me and asked me for my name I said the fake name again. I said “I said no.” If you want to chat up a woman don’t behave like a barbarian! I actually saw one of them pass the house I was staying in and peer in the window. I wish I had reported it to the superintendnat and I wish I had told those men that 1) I’m not stupid I won’t go with strange men as it’s not safe and 2) attempting to urinate in the way that they did was really off putting.
My second story: third year at university and me and my firend are walking back form the station to her house after a day trip out. A man, rudely asks to borrow a phone to make a phone call, I say “no.” he said he needs to make a call. I say I don’t have my mobile on me. He says he wasn’t going to streal the phone. He then goes up to a building, nips being the wall (which does have a design with wholes in it although we didn’t see anything thank goodness) and urinates. I know this because my firend says in disgust and loud enough for him to here “he’s weeing!” I said in my normal voice as we walk past “and this is why I don’t loan my phone to strangers, it’s not stealing, it’s hygine.” Bearing in mind of the recent post about panhandling – if the man had asked me if I could call someone on his behalf, which is what I was prepared to do I would have done that.
P.S where the two men were walking there is a gap in the fence towards a housing estate so that made me think they weren’t studnets although I do know some students do really disgursting things.
I agree very much with Mary – she absolutely deserved it. If he hadn’t taped it, unless someone who witnessed it told a cop and the evidence was gathered, she would not have been brought to justice. Disgusting behavior like that does not need to be encouraged or tolerated. I’m glad the man taped her.
Vile, no doubt, but she was not operating on all cylinders surely. She was probably drunk, and very remorseful now. NO excuse, because THIS IS public drunkeness.
Wonder what the offender thinks of peeing in public now?
Wow. That is absolutely disgusting. In general, I think that sometimes you can’t avoid peeing in “public” [although this applies 99% to wilderness situations!], but that? GROSS! I’m glad that she got in trouble for that. Can you imagine being the one sitting next to her or behind her?
@Eisa: Agreed. But also imagine the poor stadium worker who has to clean it up…Especially if the woman was not the only one…
Well I’ll say this for her, she’s clearly not a fair-weather rugby fan. I’m guessing she was drunk… not an excuse but perhaps a partial explanation. But charged? That may be a bit extreme. After all, it’s only pee.
Its not only pee. Its unhygienic on the stands she peed on. And its public indecency. I think they were right to charge her.
As a woman who works outside and does “the obvious” as well when outside…albeit as privately as possible, I am sick and tired of the double standard. I cannot tell you how many disgusting acts I have witnessed first-hand of men doing their business in the open, obvious to all. Never have I seen one receive a ticket / citation, a fine, or anything else. However, here is a woman who has probably been over-imbibing and does what I have seen countless men do. Everyone thinks she is “vile” and wants to send her to e-hell.
Tell you what: she deserved reprimand, and possibly a fine. Permanent record? Really?
I will be honest– those bleachers aren’t clean anyway. Wanna bet there weren’t any men using a container of sorts to “go” into while watching the game? Especially under a blanket or coat? You know it. Then guess where that container gets tossed after the game– under the seat.
As icky as it was, this woman was actually pretty clever. And for the cameraman, thanks for keeping the double standard going by making sure we all know how “gross” it is for the fairer sex to do what men have been doing way too long.
Two wrongs do NOT make a right.
I have never, ever seen a man urinate in the front row of a crowded balcony at a stadium. Ever.
This woman earned her shame and humiliation. Sorry.