Weenie Wavers

Meet 26-year-old Gregory Gentles.
 

Gentles is a weenie waver who likes to frequent public libraries and bookstores.

Weenie wavers are men who like to expose themselves in public for their own sexual gratification.  They're also known as "flashers", but to my mind the term "flasher" does not convey the right note of creepy in describing what freaks like Gentles do.

Gregory Gentles was recently sentenced to 3 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to exposing himself at public libraries in Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights.  The crime of Public Indecency (720 ILCS 5/11-9) is a misdemeanor, but becomes a felony if the offender has 3 or more prior convictions.  Gentles had quite a record, including several convictions stemming from a string of incidents at the Evanston public library, a couple of bookstores, and the Northwestern University library in 2005.  In the N.U. incident, Gentles pleasured himself while muttering the phrase "sexy feet" and pretending to talk on a cell phone.  The 2005 cases were also charged as felonies, because Gentles already had enough prior convictions for weenie waving as a 22-year-old to qualify for the complimentary felony upgrade.

Weenie wavers tend to be creatures of habit.  They have favorite settings in which to get busy, and they usually have specific behaviors they repeat. Depending on the twisted psycho-sexual drama playing in his head, he might even repeat the same lines each time and sometimes sport specific clothing and accessories. 

Gentles likes libraries and bookstores.  Libraries in particular are very popular with weenie wavers.  I think one reason is that the stacks are set up in a way that allow a weenie waver to focus on a specific target without being visible to a lot of other bystanders.  Another popular weenie waver target is the craft store, places like Michaels and Hobby Lobby--lots of women and relatively few men.  Some frequent parks, and some favor public transportation, as evidenced by this recent post in CTA Tattler.  I have never seen much crossover in territory--the bookstore weenie wavers stick with what they know, and the mall parking lot "hey can I ask directions" weenie wavers tend to stay in or near their cars.

I put Gentles' picture up, and am talking about his case, because he's not unique.  There are a lot of these folks running around out there.  I'll bet that most women--really, almost all--have at some point been targeted by one of these freaks.

Now, on a lighter note, if the weenie waver isn't too threatening or predatory, he can often be hilarious. 

According to a police report, on June 19 Niles police officers were dispatched to a report of an unwanted subject at a Best Buy store.  The complainant informed the officer that a 37-year-old man had walked into the store clad only in boxer shorts, sandals and a tee shirt.  The man asked about buying a vacuum cleaner.  He explained to the clerk that he needed to "vacuum his body and his balls because he had just shaved his balls".  The man then pulled open the waistband of his shorts to display his freshly-shaved scrotum to the sales clerk. The man left before the police arrived.  A short time later an officer was waved down in the parking lot of a nearby offtrack betting parlor, by the weenie waver himself!  Having failed in his attempt to purchase a vacuum, the suspect had apparently decided to drive over to the OTB and play the horses.  He flagged down the officer to express his unhappiness with the vacuum cleaner situation back at Best Buy.  The man ended his day with a trip to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, and no arrest was made.