Apparently Playboy playmate Dani Mathers is not only mean and entitled but she’s also a liar. I know, get the salts – I’m shocked. Dani is the former centerfold who took a picture of a 70-year old woman in a gym locker room and blasted it to Snapchat with a crude caption about the woman’s appearance. The case went to trial and although a stiffer penalty was sought, she got off with community service and restitution in a plea deal. Last week, Dani started her Victim Tour in which she tried to garner sympathy because she had to hide out at her mother’s house from all the people reminding her she’s a lousy human. Dani appeared on Good Morning America crying into her hanky about her mistreatment. But she also pressed the point that she has reached out to her septuagenarian victim and wished her nothing but healing rays of sunshine so that they can all move past this. Except LA City Attorney, Mike Feuer, said Dani did no such thing. Huh, who would have guessed? Feuer called the victim a few days after the trial to see how she was faring and to hear her feelings about the outcome of the trial.

LA Times: What has the impact been on this lady?
Feuer: This is an individual who had the courage to come forward and was prepared to testify to endure a trial. She cooperated throughout the preparation of this case. But you might imagine, she wanted nothing more than to try to turn the page in her life.

One thing that appears to be the case now is that Ms. Mathers is attempting to portray herself as the victim. She is not the victim. She is the perpetrator.

Ms. Mathers says that she didn’t intend to widely disseminate the photo. That ignores the fact that she invaded another woman’s privacy by taking a nude photo of her in a gym. And then, of course, once she took the photo, she added a cruel caption to it before she sent it out.

I saw Ms. Mathers on “Good Morning America.” She claims that she’s tried to contact the victim, I presume to apologize. I will share with you, that surprises the victim, who told me she is unaware of any attempt by Ms. Mathers to reach out to her.

The focus of our attention needs to be on the fact that invading people’s privacy and body shaming is so deeply injurious to the most basic levels of self-respect that one should have. Think today about the trans kid who is struggling with their identity. Think about members of the LGBTQ community, about disabled people. We are hearing more and more in the media about how horrific body shaming can be for its victims, and I hope that this case deters people from engaging in that kind of behavior in the future, because it is so deeply harmful.

LA Times: How was the sentence arrived at?
Feuer: The term “community service” really misstates what’s going on here. This is community labor. This is not a glamorous star turn someplace. This is erasing graffiti on the street. And I think that, combined with restitution, combined with the probationary terms here, which are fairly extensive, taken together is an appropriate sentence.

When I first became aware of this case, it was striking to me that the taking of the photo was a crime but that the subsequent dissemination of it was not. That gap in the law is a gap we are trying to close right now.

[From LA Times]

You can read the whole article here. Feuer is pissed at Dani and who can blame him? He’s become protective of the victim and I have to say, he’s impressed me. With the attention this trial got, he could have used it for career purposes but instead, pursued the best course of action for the victim. And I’m very happy he is speaking publicly for her while Dani tries to rewrite the story in her favor. A couple of you were wondering about the small amount of restitution – $60 – in the case, as was I. Feuer explained that amount and it’s just as heart-breaking as the rest. The victim sought $60 because she had to replace her backpack. Her backpack is visible in Dani’s photo and it helped people identify her so she had to replace it. That’s all she wanted.

As I mentioned in my first Dani post, the laws surrounding photos on social media is a quagmire right now. If anything good comes of this trial, it will be the ability to define those laws better. Feuer and California State Senator Cathleen Galginai authored a bill that enforces stricter laws on distribution of photos via social media. To oversimplify it, if you posted a cute pic of your family at Disneyland and someone in the background was recognizable, could they press charges? Up until now, the answer has been mostly no. Now common decency dictates that you shouldn’t post a naked photo of someone and mock them openly. Unfortunately, Dani proved that because there are people without any common decency, we need to write laws to govern them. Many laws are named after the person who inspired their creation but Feuer declined to do so on this one because he wanted to protect the victim’s anonymity. I wouldn’t be opposed to it being called the Dani Maters is a Jerk Bill, though.

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