Justice

The Body-Shaming Playboy Playmate is Going to be Tried in Court

May 16th 2017

Dani Mathers took a photo of a naked 70-year-old woman in a gym shower without her consent in 2016.

The former Playboy Playmate, then sent the photo to her Snapchat story (captioned: "if I can't unsee this then you can't either"). She later explained that the picture was meant for a friend, and she sort of apologized. However, she faced a storm of both controversy and legal consequences in the aftermath of this photo getting out.

The woman she body-shamed decided to press criminal charges. Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer explained why they were proceeding with this incident as a criminal case in a tweet he sent in November.

And now, despite trying to avoid it, Mathers is being taken to court.

She will be on trial sometime in May. The Daily News reports "a Los Angeles judge denied the 30-year-old’s defense motion claiming the privacy law she's charged with violating is too ambiguous to be constitutional. 'The court finds the statute is constitutional and not void for vagueness,' Judge Gustavo Sztraicher ruled. Trial was tentatively set to begin May 26, the judge said."

To paraphrase Feuer, body shaming is not a criminal offense, but taking a photo of a naked stranger and putting it on the internet — all without their consent — is, regardless of Mathers' intentions. It is an invasion of privacy.

On May 4, Mathers tweeted people were being "brutal and heartless" towards her.

"Just being straight forward... some of you are truly brutal, heartless, & extremely bored humans," she tweeted, with the attached note. "If you throw any negativity or shade on my feed, you will be blocked. A year later and a lifetime of being human is enough thank you though. I have worked very hard all my life, and especially this past year to focus on the positive, to be more compassionate and kind and I won't allow for any of you, your twitter rants, and insecurities to take that down."

Share your opinion

Have you ever been publicly body shamed?

No 36%Yes 64%