Cogitation
10-04-2007, 21:20
New York Daily News Exclusive
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/04/10/2007-04-10_its_jurisimprudence-2.html
Exclusive
It's juris-imprudence
Holy torts! Law student in erotic vid
BY VERONIKA BELENKAYA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Posted Tuesday, April 10th 2007, 4:00 AM
Brooklyn Law student Adriana Dominguez, who wanted to 'do something a little crazy' before she graduated, opted to shed her clothes - and her inhibitions - for sexy video.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Brooklyn law student who shed her briefs for a Playboy TV series may have to kiss off her career after the sexy video made its way into e-mail in-boxes all over the city.
Adriana Dominguez - a third-year student at Brooklyn Law School - happily strips naked, gets spanked and holds gavels up to her bare breasts in the provocative clip.
"I wanted to do something a little crazy before I graduate and do become a lawyer ... do something kind of out of character," Dominguez said with a grin as she posed for photographer Andrew Einhorn inside his friend's DUMBO apartment.
"Lawyers can be boring," the 24-year-old later added.
But no one will ever call Dominguez buttoned-up.
The brainy blond with Ivy League credentials was looking for a lark last July when she answered a Craigslist ad for women to appear in the Playboy TV series "Naked Happy Girls."
The episode, called "Rock Star and the Lawyer," aired in January - and was barely noticed.
But in the past three weeks, a 45-second clip spread on the Internet among students and some faculty at almost every New York law school.
"I did not expect it to become so widespread," Dominguez told the Daily News in an e-mail yesterday. "I do not know how it was leaked."
The University of Pennsylvania graduate appeared embarrassed and anxious when The News spotted her coming out of a meeting with a top dean.
"We don't want this to ruin the career of a young lawyer," said law school spokeswoman Linda Harvey.
When she made the erotic video, Dominguez, a California native, seemed unfazed by the idea that it could wreck her future.
"I'm not that shy, so it wouldn't bother me if, say, the opposing counsel has seen these pictures of me. I wouldn't care," she told Einhorn after he asked her if she had any concerns.
"When we shot, she knew what might happen down the road if these pictures might get shown to people in her field," Einhorn told The News.
"But she had this self-confidence to not let that bother her. I don't think that she felt that this would be negative in any way to her career," he said.
The sexy stunt could have dire consequences for the would-be lawyer.
If she applies for the New York State Bar this year, Dominguez could face tough questions from the Committee on Character and Fitness, which examines the personal character of future lawyers.
"It may have an effect. It's a possibility in the worst-case scenario that the person does not get admitted," a committee representative said.
And potential employers are sure to discover Dominguez's striptease with a quick Internet search.
Except for her naughty past, Dominguez has plenty to recommend her: she had a fall internship with the domestic violence unit of the Brooklyn district attorney's office and served as treasurer of her law school's Legal Association of Activist Women.
Her fellow students at Brooklyn Law, who have dubbed Dominguez "Porn Star," said she should have been smart enough to know better.
"It's a striptease. A bit trashy," said one young woman on campus. "I look at her differently. She's definitely smart. It was just a bad decision."
vbelenkaya@nydailynews.com
With Brendan Brosh and Nancie Katz
You occassionally see stories like this in the news from time-to-time; some professional (typically, but not always, female) whose respectability wouldn't be questioned under any other non-criminal circumstances decides to pose nude for a camera, and when the pictures get out, their job and career security suddenly come into question.
For the life of me, I really can't grasp why this should be the case. As I understand it, there wasn't anything criminal about the video, Dominguez's actions, or Einhorn's actions. Dominguez wasn't having an extramarital affair. And yet, many of my fellow Americans are ready to gasp and say "What a scandal!"
Granted, the majority of Americans practice some denomination of Christianity, and in our particular flavor of American Christianity, millions of us have had it rammed into our heads that "Sex is bad, sex is sinful". [Cogitation shrugs and spreads his hands out.] Well, yeah, if you are promiscuous, then you're more likely to catch veneral diseases (which is bad) and have unwanted pregnancies (which results in children who are not raised in loving and stable environments, which is also bad). I've never heard of anyone getting pregnant froma camcorder or AIDS from a flash bulb. So, beyond that, I don't see cause for concern.
With that said, we are talking about a country that has a collective history of being anxious about this sort of thing. So, if you are one of my fellow Americans and you decide to pose nude for a camera, you have to expect that the images will get out (unless your significant other is doing the filming and you keep the only copies in your bedroom drawer) and you have to expect that someone will make an issue out of it. If you're not prepared for the brouhaha, then don't do it. Sadly, it seems Dominguez wasn't as prepared for the brouhaha as she thought she was.
With that said, I'm of the opinion that it shouldn't be an issue. Some individuals are personally disturbed by displays of nudity outside of certain very controlled circumstances. I respect that such things bother such people; their sensibilities should be respected and they shouldn't have to put up with displays of sexuality in contexts that they don't expect to find it in. At the same time, though, this video was intended for circulation amongst people who do want to see such things and, while Dominguez did talk about her career in the video, she did not try to bring her sexuality into her professional life; it was others who did that for her without her consent. As long as Dominguez, herself, didn't try to bring her sexuality into a realm where it doesn't belong (such as the courts or the classroom), then it shouldn't be a factor.
So, Dominguez's initial attitude should have been spot-on; so what if her opposition in court has seen the nude video? It has no bearing whatsoever on her ability to present a case. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, my opposing council has a history of pornographic performances. How can you trust a case presented by such an individual?"
They might as well say "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, this is Chewbacca (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewbacca_defense)."
Now, if there's a reason why shedding one's clothes for adult exhibition makes one unfit to be a legal professional, then I'll listen to a logical argument explaining why. I'll admit that the above tirade would seem to make me hostile to hearing such an argument, but hey, I'm not perfect. Just because I didn't think of it doesn't mean that it's not possible or sensical. It's quite possible that I'm missing something very basic, very fundamental that connects nude exhibition with the respectability of a professional career. But until then, I can't figure out why there's any connection whatsoever between posing nude for a camera and practicing law.
"Think about it for a moment."
--The Democratic States of Cogitation
Founder and Delegate of The Realm of Ambrosia
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/04/10/2007-04-10_its_jurisimprudence-2.html
Exclusive
It's juris-imprudence
Holy torts! Law student in erotic vid
BY VERONIKA BELENKAYA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Posted Tuesday, April 10th 2007, 4:00 AM
Brooklyn Law student Adriana Dominguez, who wanted to 'do something a little crazy' before she graduated, opted to shed her clothes - and her inhibitions - for sexy video.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Brooklyn law student who shed her briefs for a Playboy TV series may have to kiss off her career after the sexy video made its way into e-mail in-boxes all over the city.
Adriana Dominguez - a third-year student at Brooklyn Law School - happily strips naked, gets spanked and holds gavels up to her bare breasts in the provocative clip.
"I wanted to do something a little crazy before I graduate and do become a lawyer ... do something kind of out of character," Dominguez said with a grin as she posed for photographer Andrew Einhorn inside his friend's DUMBO apartment.
"Lawyers can be boring," the 24-year-old later added.
But no one will ever call Dominguez buttoned-up.
The brainy blond with Ivy League credentials was looking for a lark last July when she answered a Craigslist ad for women to appear in the Playboy TV series "Naked Happy Girls."
The episode, called "Rock Star and the Lawyer," aired in January - and was barely noticed.
But in the past three weeks, a 45-second clip spread on the Internet among students and some faculty at almost every New York law school.
"I did not expect it to become so widespread," Dominguez told the Daily News in an e-mail yesterday. "I do not know how it was leaked."
The University of Pennsylvania graduate appeared embarrassed and anxious when The News spotted her coming out of a meeting with a top dean.
"We don't want this to ruin the career of a young lawyer," said law school spokeswoman Linda Harvey.
When she made the erotic video, Dominguez, a California native, seemed unfazed by the idea that it could wreck her future.
"I'm not that shy, so it wouldn't bother me if, say, the opposing counsel has seen these pictures of me. I wouldn't care," she told Einhorn after he asked her if she had any concerns.
"When we shot, she knew what might happen down the road if these pictures might get shown to people in her field," Einhorn told The News.
"But she had this self-confidence to not let that bother her. I don't think that she felt that this would be negative in any way to her career," he said.
The sexy stunt could have dire consequences for the would-be lawyer.
If she applies for the New York State Bar this year, Dominguez could face tough questions from the Committee on Character and Fitness, which examines the personal character of future lawyers.
"It may have an effect. It's a possibility in the worst-case scenario that the person does not get admitted," a committee representative said.
And potential employers are sure to discover Dominguez's striptease with a quick Internet search.
Except for her naughty past, Dominguez has plenty to recommend her: she had a fall internship with the domestic violence unit of the Brooklyn district attorney's office and served as treasurer of her law school's Legal Association of Activist Women.
Her fellow students at Brooklyn Law, who have dubbed Dominguez "Porn Star," said she should have been smart enough to know better.
"It's a striptease. A bit trashy," said one young woman on campus. "I look at her differently. She's definitely smart. It was just a bad decision."
vbelenkaya@nydailynews.com
With Brendan Brosh and Nancie Katz
You occassionally see stories like this in the news from time-to-time; some professional (typically, but not always, female) whose respectability wouldn't be questioned under any other non-criminal circumstances decides to pose nude for a camera, and when the pictures get out, their job and career security suddenly come into question.
For the life of me, I really can't grasp why this should be the case. As I understand it, there wasn't anything criminal about the video, Dominguez's actions, or Einhorn's actions. Dominguez wasn't having an extramarital affair. And yet, many of my fellow Americans are ready to gasp and say "What a scandal!"
Granted, the majority of Americans practice some denomination of Christianity, and in our particular flavor of American Christianity, millions of us have had it rammed into our heads that "Sex is bad, sex is sinful". [Cogitation shrugs and spreads his hands out.] Well, yeah, if you are promiscuous, then you're more likely to catch veneral diseases (which is bad) and have unwanted pregnancies (which results in children who are not raised in loving and stable environments, which is also bad). I've never heard of anyone getting pregnant froma camcorder or AIDS from a flash bulb. So, beyond that, I don't see cause for concern.
With that said, we are talking about a country that has a collective history of being anxious about this sort of thing. So, if you are one of my fellow Americans and you decide to pose nude for a camera, you have to expect that the images will get out (unless your significant other is doing the filming and you keep the only copies in your bedroom drawer) and you have to expect that someone will make an issue out of it. If you're not prepared for the brouhaha, then don't do it. Sadly, it seems Dominguez wasn't as prepared for the brouhaha as she thought she was.
With that said, I'm of the opinion that it shouldn't be an issue. Some individuals are personally disturbed by displays of nudity outside of certain very controlled circumstances. I respect that such things bother such people; their sensibilities should be respected and they shouldn't have to put up with displays of sexuality in contexts that they don't expect to find it in. At the same time, though, this video was intended for circulation amongst people who do want to see such things and, while Dominguez did talk about her career in the video, she did not try to bring her sexuality into her professional life; it was others who did that for her without her consent. As long as Dominguez, herself, didn't try to bring her sexuality into a realm where it doesn't belong (such as the courts or the classroom), then it shouldn't be a factor.
So, Dominguez's initial attitude should have been spot-on; so what if her opposition in court has seen the nude video? It has no bearing whatsoever on her ability to present a case. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, my opposing council has a history of pornographic performances. How can you trust a case presented by such an individual?"
They might as well say "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, this is Chewbacca (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewbacca_defense)."
Now, if there's a reason why shedding one's clothes for adult exhibition makes one unfit to be a legal professional, then I'll listen to a logical argument explaining why. I'll admit that the above tirade would seem to make me hostile to hearing such an argument, but hey, I'm not perfect. Just because I didn't think of it doesn't mean that it's not possible or sensical. It's quite possible that I'm missing something very basic, very fundamental that connects nude exhibition with the respectability of a professional career. But until then, I can't figure out why there's any connection whatsoever between posing nude for a camera and practicing law.
"Think about it for a moment."
--The Democratic States of Cogitation
Founder and Delegate of The Realm of Ambrosia