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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

Pervy creep or reasonable explanation I'm missing?

39 replies

Theflamingnerd · 22/01/2022 22:31

Was at the national gallery today, happened to spot a bloke taking a picture of one of the paintings of a naked lady... Not unusual lots of people doing so. But then he zoomed in on her exposed boob. Really zoomed in, cropped the rest of the picture out.

Me, DH and MIL were pretty much speechless. They laughed it off at the time, but it actually weirded me out a bit. Is there a reasonable explanation I'm missing or was he a creep? Surely if he was admiring the art he'd take a picture of the whole painting and not just the boob?

OP posts:
Original poster
Theflamingnerd · 22/01/2022 22:32

Made a bloody typo in the title, should say Pervy not Percy FFS. Got nothing against blokes named Percy, unless they are Pervy!

OP posts:
heldinadream · 22/01/2022 22:34

Maybe, maybe not. I'm an artist and I take close ups of bits of paintings to examine how they're painted. I've got bits of legs and necks and all sorts and I'd think nothing of taking a pic of a breast if I wanted to look more closely at the colours/form/brushstrokes.
So you could be right. And you could be wrong.

MNHQ
LivMumsnet · 22/01/2022 22:37

OP, we've edited your thread title, as requested by you, to avoid confusion.

Hope that helps!

Wheresmywoolyjumpers · 22/01/2022 22:50

Seems a bit niche - either he is a higher class of perv or an art student.

Theunamedcat · 22/01/2022 22:54

Maybe he is an art student having difficulty with a boob

Maybe he is a pervert 🤣

I would have the same reaction tbh

Broblem · 22/01/2022 22:55

Presumably the image is available online too, so he wouldn’t have any reason to go photograph it in person.

The ‘perv’ explanation seems unlikely. Aspiring artist would also be my guess.

Original poster
Theflamingnerd · 22/01/2022 22:57

I thought there may be something I'm missing. I didn't seem after that so can't say if he was photographing anything else.

I'm quite relieved that there's possibly a reasonable explanation!

OP posts:
maddening · 22/01/2022 22:59

Maybe he does life drawing and has trouble getting breasts to look right? Looking at other techniques etc?

MysweetAudrina · 22/01/2022 23:02

Does it really matter why he was doing it? How did if affect you. Once he wasn't openly wanking to it why would you care. Hardly perverted to take a picture of a painted boob. Not like it was your boob so think the fact you are even thinking about it a bit ott.

Original poster
Theflamingnerd · 22/01/2022 23:14

@MysweetAudrina

Does it really matter why he was doing it? How did if affect you. Once he wasn't openly wanking to it why would you care. Hardly perverted to take a picture of a painted boob. Not like it was your boob so think the fact you are even thinking about it a bit ott.
Was it you by any chance? Your post is very defensive.

It made me feel uncomfortable is how it affected me, and I didn't follow him so I've no idea what he did with the picture afterwards. Men in engage in plenty of creepy and pervy behaviour in public that doesn't affect me directly, should I not be bothered by that either?

Other posters more knowledgeable on the topic than me have offered a reasonable explanation. I've already said a few posts back I'm relieved that the behaviour may not be as suspicious as I first assumed. That's why I asked the question, to see if there was something I was missing - indeed it appears there was.

OP posts:
Lockheart · 22/01/2022 23:14

Probably just an immature joke for his mates. Humanity has been scribbling rude body parts on rocks and giggling to themselves since time immemorial.

I'm not sure aspiring artist or perverted deviant are the two most likely options here.

babeB · 22/01/2022 23:14

Could've been for a social media post, sending the picture to a friend (for a laugh, over Snapchat) but this theory is age dependent

Agree he didn't hurt anyone, it's just an odd anecdote to look back on and laugh about

getsanta · 22/01/2022 23:17

I agree with @MysweetAudrina

Why would you care? Maybe he likes boobs. It's a painting.

Original poster
Theflamingnerd · 22/01/2022 23:17

Agree he didn't hurt anyone, it's just an odd anecdote to look back on and laugh about

Yep, and something I now have context for if I encounter again!

OP posts:
Trilley · 22/01/2022 23:21

Even without the explanation you've been given on here, surely it wouldn't be difficult to work out that anyone who wants to perv over a naked breast has thousands of opportunities to do so online and is hardly likely to flog off to the National Gallery to do it?

Hugasauras · 22/01/2022 23:22

I can't imagine there's much titillation to be had from a painted boob, so I'd assume either a joke or because there was something noteworthy about it. Was it a particularly interesting boob? Grin

OperationRinka · 22/01/2022 23:29

Was it one of the paintings where you can see a clinically suspicious breast mass? There's a couple of them from Rubens I think.

Original poster
Theflamingnerd · 22/01/2022 23:33

@OperationRinka

Was it one of the paintings where you can see a clinically suspicious breast mass? There's a couple of them from Rubens I think.
Can't say I noticed, I was a bit preoccupied fielding questions from my 6yo who loudly enquired in the busy gallery "Mummy, why's that man taking pictures of boobs?" Grin
OP posts:
Staffy1 · 22/01/2022 23:41

Mummy, why's that man taking pictures of boobs

“I don’t know sweetie, he’s either a pervy creep or there’s some other explanation. Someone on MN is bound to know.”

Hugasauras · 22/01/2022 23:43

@OperationRinka

Was it one of the paintings where you can see a clinically suspicious breast mass? There's a couple of them from Rubens I think.
This is actually fascinating! Off to Google.
ErrmWTAF · 23/01/2022 00:01

@LivMumsnet

OP, we've edited your thread title, as requested by you, to avoid confusion.

Hope that helps!

I would have been sooooo happy if she'd said "hope that helps, Perce!"

C'mon, Mumsnet, where's my entertainment value?!? 😁

Original poster
Theflamingnerd · 23/01/2022 00:14

@Staffy1

Mummy, why's that man taking pictures of boobs

“I don’t know sweetie, he’s either a pervy creep or there’s some other explanation. Someone on MN is bound to know.”

Aye, next time I'll just Google it instead... Quite a few people on MN actually did know.

I've learned something new today. Judged someone and leapt to worst case scenario, second guessed it and next time will have more info and be less judgey about the same behaviour. God forbid people actually live and learn.

OP posts:
Original poster
Theflamingnerd · 23/01/2022 00:20

In conclusion IABU - reasonable explanation I was missing. Happy to be corrected Smile

OP posts:
Staffy1 · 23/01/2022 13:06

@Theflamingnerd, they didn’t know why that particular person was doing it, but anyway, ignore me and do post on MN, it wasn’t supposed to come across so bitchy, but did, sorry.

TerraNovaTwo · 23/01/2022 13:14

Imagine if it was a woman going around the national gallery zooming in on paintings showing the scrotum. 😂

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