A 42 year old Brit, who feels the chronic need to run naked in front of spectators — he has done it 380 times — was arrested last year at British Open Golf Championship and charged with anti-social behaviour order.
No so, said Judge Nick Sanders rejecting the prosecutor’s case: “What Mister Roberts does may be annoying but, in my opinion, it does not amount to anti-social behaviour.”
So what is streaking?
“Is streaking innocent? Is it quintessentially English, as taste-free but innocuous as a cucumber sandwich, as visually noxious but none the less as harmless as (comedian) Benny Hill?” asked commentator Zoe Williams in the Guardian.
“Or is it a vulgar, atavistic display of male aggression?”
Or is it just harmless attention seeking, often drunken.
“There is an ancient urge, it’s like ‘daddy mummy look at me’ as a child jumps into a swimming pool. We all crave attention, some more than others,” Doctor Glenn Wilson, of the Institute of Psychiatry in London told AFP.
“Fame equals exposure. It’s not a case of great achievements in art or science or the military that counts for fame any more, it is simply exposure in the tabloids or on television. And the quickest way to get that is to flash your knockers or whatever,” he said.
The Merseyside police were less than amused by the court ruling. The story is here: Bare-faced cheek: Britain’s love affair with streakers.
