himself’; he pleaded guilty and was jailed for twelve months. However,
when 31-year-old John Daniels was found guilty of the same offence
nine months later on 23 October, he only received only one month
in jail; there is nothing in the records to indicate why there was a
disparity in sentencing. Some years later, on 2 July 1849, 62-year-old
William Joiner was confined for four months for indecent exposure.
Without more in-depth knowledge of the incidents, it is impossible
to understand why some were treated more seriously than others,
but other mitigating circumstances may have been involved. Then
again, sentencing was, and is, notoriously inconsistent from one
court to another.
In any case, given the low sentences passed, the activity was evi-
dently not regarded as being too threatening. Even when the case of
exposure took place in public places, it was often difficult to obtain
a conviction. When, on 5 January 1857, Felix Hue exposed himself
to Elizabeth Williams, it was on a public highway. Nonetheless, he
was found not guilty, so presumably there were no witnesses. Even
when there were witnesses, it seems to have still been problematic
to ensure a conviction. On 27 February 1860, 31-year-old Giuseppe
Pugno was accused of exposing himself to Margaret Stafford in the
presence of William Henry Crocker. The incident had taken place
in a railway carriage used for conveying passengers along the South
Eastern Railway. Crocker’s defence argued that the carriage was not
in a public place and suggested the carriage ‘might then be lying
under some shed, or undergoing some repair in the carriage-house’.
The indictment was squashed on a technicality as ‘although it alleged
the exposure to be in the presence of another person, it did not allege
that it was within the view of that person; who, though present,
might have been blind or sleeping’.⁷
‘Streaking’ or ‘mooning’ became new terms for old activities.
‘Moon ing’ as a popular term originated in the .. only around 1968
and was specifically used to apply to the act of publicly displaying
the bare buttocks. It was usually done for fun rather than erotic
arousal. Although the term ‘to streak’ had been used since medieval
times to mean ‘to rush or run around’, it only came to imply naked-
ness from around 1973 onwards; this occurred after a mass nude
run by 533 people took place at the University of Maryland. It seems
to have been a particularly popular pastime at sports grounds – at
cricket, rugby, football, tennis, snooker, golf and even the Olympic
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