In another part of the forest entirely – a nasty guy who is nothing to do with atheism or secularism (how refreshing!) has made one sexist video too many, and received pushback from Laci Green in an open letter.
You may have noticed that your latest video “Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank” has garnered considerable negative attention. In this video, you sexually violate a number of unsuspecting women on the street, many of whom are visibly confused and upset at being touched by you without permission. One woman even says “I don’t like that!” while you proceed to laugh and touch her more. In “How to Make Out with Strangers”, made a year ago, you pressure women on camera to make out with you – again, many of whom are visibly uncool with it. Confused and caught off guard, they painfully follow through with your requests, clearly uncomfortable. In “How to Pick Up Girls with a Lasso”, you physically restrain women on the street with lassos – many of whom look alarmed to be restrained by a stranger.
Ugh. The guy is Sam Pepper. Apparently he’s quite popular.
People don’t like to be violated and they don’t like to see their friends and girlfriends be violated either (hence the group of men that tried to beat you up in the lasso video). And yet, history suggests that perhaps you find this humorous. It is very disturbing that we live in a world where the violation of women and girls’ bodies is not only funny, but profitable, and can garner considerable notoriety and views on YouTube.
We are deeply disturbed by this trend and would like to ask you, from one creator to another, to please stop. Please stop violating women and making them uncomfortable on the street for views. Please stop physically restraining them and pressuring them to be sexual when they are uncomfortable. Please show some respect for women’s right to their own bodies. While it may seem like harmless fun, a simple prank, or a “social experiment”, these videos encourage millions of young men and women to see this violation as a normal way to interact with women. 1 in 6 young women (real life ones, just like the ones in your video) are sexually assaulted, and sadly, videos like these will only further increase those numbers.
We realize that people make mistakes, and that sometimes it’s hard to see the ripple effect of one’s actions. We really hope that you will take a step back and consider the power you have to be someone who makes the world a better place. It’s not too late to make a change! We invite you to join us in ending widespread bodily violation that takes place in so many forms all around in the world.
Thanks so much.
There are lots of signatories. I’m going to bold one of them, because I’m pleased to see her name there.
Laci Green, Meghan Tonjes, Tyler Oakley, TomSka, ViHart, ALB, Ross Everett, Matt Lieberman, Meg Turney, Tom Flynn, Tyrannosaurus Lex, Arielle Scarcella, Dan at NerdCubed, Rachel Whitehurst, Hannah Witton, Jefferson Bethke, MusicalBethan, Kaleb Nation, Chris Thompson, Michael Buckley, Jared Oban, Liam Dryden, Sanne Vliegenthart, Bryarly Bishop, Nicola Foti, Chescaleigh,Grace Helbig, Wheezy Waiter, Morgan Paige, Nathan Z., MumboJumbo, Miles Jai,Adorian Deck, Alli Speed, Matthew Santoro, Jaclyn Glenn, Hank Green, Rosianna Rojas, Grayson, Taryn Southern, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Adam Hattan, Drew Monson, Josh Sundquist, Mamrie Hart, Strawburry17, Catie Wayne, Hannah Hart,Catrific, Connor Manning, Emily Graslie, Sarah Weichel, Jack Howard, Louise Sprinkleofglitter, Mr. Repzion, John Green, Rob Dyke, Dean Dobbs, Charlie McDonnell, Wil Wheaton, Mitch & Greg at AsapSCIENCE
[MORE COSIGNERS TO COME. SHARE/REBLOG TO SIGN!]
By all means share or reblog to sign!
So… he is pinching people… and apparently lassoing people, strangers, on the street.
Does he realize he’s committing assault and recording the evidence?
What Jafafa Hots said. This is a slam dunk prosecution if taken at face value, and still horribly skeevy and disturbing in the unlikely event that the women are actually consenting actors feigning distress.
I wonder if this is the same guy that did a video I came across a while back. It had a guy walking up to random women and kissing them. Sometimes the visibly uncomfortable women would try to get away and he would follow them. That video was also marketed as a prank.
They should be locked up until they learn how to behave. I imagine they’d stay locked up for a long time.
According to Laci Green’s Twitter, Sam Pepper’s Youtube account has been suspended.
I wonder if there are any amendments proposed to assault law which would increase penalties for ‘assault with the intention or result of public humiliation of the victim and posting on line for clicks/profit.
We really need to get a a strong legal handle on the new potential for harm via internet postings. It’s like every asshole can now own the equivalent of a checkout counter newspaper.
There’s something not right about that video (as well as the obvious). The women he molests first (talking on the phone) re-appears about 2 mins in. Maybe that’s just a coincidence but am I the only one who finds that a bit fishy?
Is there … something planned by you and Jaclyn together?
@soogeeoh 7
Yeah, me and Jaclyn, we’re like that. (Actually that doesn’t work in print. Imagine an appropriate gesture signifying close solidarity).
It seems that Wil Wheaton is one of the few people I consistently never hear anything bad about.
So, I am amazed that there is no call for forwarding this vid to the police for prosecution of sexual assault. Why not? There would be calls for prosecution if he was punching or stealing on vid. As per usual, sexual assault is not as important?
I would personally forward this vid to the cops if I knew where. Unfortunately, the vid was already down. Anyone know where these assaults took place?
What a smug, privileged asshole Pepper is.
Also good to see Catie Wayne on that list – she did a really brave thing in overcoming the pressure of her online harassment and actually becoming a content-creator and regular online commentator. (Boxxy is still queen of the internets =^.^=)
Colloquially, it is battery, which is worse. Local laws may say otherwise, though.