If they masturbate to a fantasy of flashing I'd try to get them to change

If they masturbate to a fantasy of flashing, I'd try to get them to change the fantasy, so the meaning of sexual pleasure has different associations. The problem is, will he attack her? He has already proved that he is prepared to cross the boundaries of normal conduct. How much further is he willing to transgress? The flasher's unpredictable behaviour is the most terrifying aspect of all.Is today's flasher tomorrow's rapist? No, says Katherine Mair, consultant forensic psychologist at Aberdeen's Royal Cornhill Hospital: "Today's flasher is tomorrow's flasher These guys find flashing itself rewarding They fantasise about what their victim is imagining. But if a burly man confronts a lone female walking her spaniel through woods, the fear is paralysing For most women the sight of a penis isn't the problem. And in such a public place! I thought, 'How has he got the nerve to risk it?' "Ms Bacchus could laugh at her teenage flasher because he was a little schnip and she was surrounded by people.

She and a female colleague were standing on the platform waiting for the Tube."I turned around and there was a boy - he couldn't have been more than 15 years old - swinging his penis in the air! I said to my colleague, 'You're not going to believe this' There he stood, enjoying the glance of a woman. "It's distasteful, it's intimidating, it's violating the woman. It's the same whether he touches her or not." Her latest such encounter occurred en route to Scotland Yard to discuss rape counselling with police chiefs. "At first I couldn't hear him properly so I stood there going 'pardon?' Then he pointed downwards He'd unzipped his trousers and was holding his penis It was sticking up I looked away and ran I'd never seen one before He shouted something crude after me. It was just horrible."Pat Bacchus, who trains rape counsellors and runs Victim Support Barnet, in north London, can empathise She was also flashed at the age of 14 "It is a form of sexual assault," she says. "I went to an all-girls school and I didn't really know about boys."The incident occurred as she walked home along a main road A young man on a bicycle rode past, saw her and turned back He stood beside her and began to talk. That makes it very hard when you want a description."Lisa Atwell, who was flashed at age 14, was a stereotypically inefficient victim: she didn't even tell her mother "I was very upset and disturbed by it all," she recalls.

Schoolgirls are a common target, but they make poor witnesses: "Unfortunately, 14-year-old girls get very upset by it and take as little notice of the flasher as they can They just want to get away. It's unsatisfactory really."Even if an arrest is made, a charge doesn't necessarily follow. However, if a flasher is convicted he may face a fine of up to pounds 1,000, 14 days in prison, or a combination of both.Victims are routinely offered counselling - if they come forward at all. "But if it was your neighbour flashing at you as you went to work, we'd interview him at home, but we couldn't arrest him because we know who he is.

They can issue a summons against him, for which they need some form of identification. If he refuses to give his name and address, then they can arrest him. "With flashers, we've got a problem with the power of arrest," a police spokesman admits. The police can only arrest a flasher if they catch him committing indecent exposure, a summary offence If he's reported later, they don't have the power of arrest.