To have ‘defaced’ this photograph??

[Boobsakimboo]

We have lockers at work, in our break room where everyone goes and one co-worker,
Jim, has a photo of a famous, topless page 3 girl on the inside of his door.
the girl in the photo was 16 when it was taken, and he’s had it since around the same age - he wrote into The Sun and got a signed one sent- so it’s very precious to him.

several women have mentioned to Jim that they’d rather he didn’t have it there as the locker door is often left open and we can see it. Jim thinks we’re prudes, because it’s famous page 3 girls, and IN his locker it’s not an issue.

Anyway, cut to last week. I was alone in break room. Locker door was open so I’m looking at this picture. There were Sharpie pens sitting on the table. So I gave the child in the photo quite a substantial bikini top with the permanent marker.

shit has hit the fan! Management don’t quite know what to do. Jim is furious, and the workforce divided into those who think it’s funny and those who think it was wrong.
no-one know who did it… Jim
his suspicions …

So MN, was AIBU??

Agree that management didn’t ‘ignore’ you…they simply didn’t do what you wanted. They responded by saying it’s fine inside his locker.
I hope they work out who did this too.

‘It never seems to be a problem when women are ogling at half naked oiled hunks in suggestive poses. Remember the Chippendales?’

I can confirm that none of the women at work have ‘sexy’ calendars or partially clothed men ( or women) up at work. Lots of dog and cat pics though. LOADS of those.

I agree with this.
Also I think that having naked, sexualised images of people under 18 is a crime now ? If he had pictures of a topless teenager on his phone he could be seeing a visit from the police. Sharing that would be illegal.
Something to point out to your management. I think Jim has this in his locker as his family don’t want it on display at home.
I have teenage dds either side of this age, I think I would have taken down his picture, and put it up on a manager’s door in full view, and asked them how acceptable they found it.

@CounsellorTroi

Things do get stolen

This wasn't, it was defaced

By a petty individual who instead of raising through proper channels decided to draw on someone else's property

ywnbu about anything, except defacing it with sharpie.

You could have done any number of things, but damaging the photo by defacing it was the wrong choice.

Completely disagree. He knew people were annoyed about it, but thought that his "needs" were more important because he's a man. HR were pathetic, so the OP took matters into her own hands. Rightly in my view.

I assume all the people hand-wringing on here thought that the Sarah Everard protestors/vigil attenders were wrong, too?

Just out of interest, how about a copy of Michelangelo's David on display?
Michelangelo was famously gay and had a number of young men/ boys that he used as models and muses and slept with.
Or do you consider David to be art and therefore doesn't count?
Was it right when the Vatican knocked the genitalia off so many statues in the 18th/19th century or painted over the male penis on works of art or drew fig leaves over them?
Were the Vatican upholders of moral values and removers of genitalia on statues and paintings, the inspiration for you OP?

Also I think that having naked, sexualised images of people under 18 is a crime now ?

it is which posters seem to be overlooking. And definitely would breach most work hr t&c

I don't think he should have had it where it could be seen though. I think page 3 was grim.

i just don't think you should have defaced someone's property.

🙄 Can’t believe anyone would really be so bold

If Jim had a hard drive full of pictures of topless 16 year old girls that you "accidentally" spilled a cup of tea on, would people seriously be saying you were wrong for destroying his property? Even if he'd been a teenager when he saved the photos, even if the photos were taken at a time when the sexualization of 16 year olds was more accepted? I don't understand how people are being so accepting of Jim and his child porn.

It never seems to be a problem when women are ogling at half naked oiled hunks in suggestive poses. Remember the Chippendales

I found all that embarrassing. I was invite to a hen do earlier this year. If I had thought there would be a stripper, I wouldn't have gone. It's all yuck.

Michelangelo had a reputation for homosexuality among his contemporaries. In a letter to Niccolo Quaratesi he humorously recalls how a father described his son to him in the hopes of the boy becoming the artist's apprentice: "Once you saw him, you'd chase him into bed the minute you got home!"

Lots of dog and cat pics though.

showing their abs though?

Just being realistic. I had several personal items taken off my desk when I was working.

I voted YABU.

Whilst I deplore the photo and it being on display in your workplace, I find permanently defacing something of your friends that you know to be precious to them a horrid act.

Emailing a photo of a topless child would constitute distributing indecent images!

A picture of a naked girl is 'precious' and poor Jim has now been deprived of looking at her breasts every day at work? Ffs listen to yourselves!

Boo fucking hoo. The picture is only ruined if you consider it ok for men to continue to think it's ok to objectify women and girls - IN THE WORKPLACE!

The picture is fine. It is not destroyed. It is now suitably redacted to display in a workplace environment.

Damaging a colleagues property is unreasonable. There are proper channels for these disputes.
Your workplace will become very toxic, very quickly if this becomes an acceptable way of settling disputes.

@Boobsakimboo But you brought up the weirdness of a 48 year old man having a picture of a (once) 16 year old. If the age gap is a problem then it's a problem, no matter what the person in the picture is wearing. I assume a fully dressed picture of his Wife at 16 would be fine by you, despite the 'age gap' being the same.

So you're conflating the issues here. The boobs are your entire gripe, not the 'age gap' you've hooked on to as an extra point of indignation.

I voted YABU because you permanently destroyed someone’s property. And something that is precious to them.
I know you’d raised it with management but you had another avenue (HR) which you should have taken instead of destroying it.
Also if you’re gonna destroy it own it and don’t be anonymous. That’s just making it worse.

‘Just out of interest, how about a copy of Michelangelo's David on display?’

😅😅😅😅at the comparison of this with Page 3 Girls! I’ve seen the light, thank you. Shall we start a campaign to get Page 3 topless models back?

I think the tide is very slowly turning. Its definitely not acceptable in most workplaces I've been in in the last 10+ years

Oh and I would hate the subject matter and would have raised it with management and HR. I’d possibly have put a grievance in about it but I wouldn’t have destroyed it.

I don’t agree with you destroying it. That’s where you lost all credibility.

You could have removed it, you could have informed HR, but destroying someone else’s property is not ok.