London fire inspector fired for sending explicit photos to city staffers

An inspector with London's fire department has been fired after at least two women reported him for sending unsolicited pictures of his genitalia, CBC News has learned. 

City officials would not confirm what occurred or even if the incident happened, but several sources told CBC News the inspector was let go Monday after being reported by women in different city departments. CBC News is not naming sources due to concerns about reprisals in the workplace. 

"The City is committed to providing a safe and respectful workplace," city officials said in an emailed statement. "As an employer, we are not in a position to comment on personnel matters, which includes employment status. As such, we will not be providing any information related to questions related to any specific employee."

The 'dick pics' were sent to the city employees, all of whom were women, using a city-issued cell phone, sources said. The inspector had a history of sending such photos to women, they said. 

"We can confirm our commitment to do everything we can to protect all of our City employees from all forms of violence and harassment. Any allegation is taken extremely seriously and handled immediately," city officials say. 

That some men still think women welcome such pictures is disturbing, particularly in the workplace, said Jennifer Dunn, the executive director of the London Abused Women's Centre. 

"It's disgusting. You'd think in this day and age men would know that it's completely inappropriate to do things like that, especially among colleagues," Dunn said. "There's a huge systemic issue that men think they can just go ahead and do whatever they want and think that women might want that kind of thing sent to them." 

The city's fire department was singled out in 2018 as having a particularly toxic work culture, with several dozen people coming forward to voice complaints. 

It's positive that some women felt they could step forward and tell higher-ups at city hall so the inspector could be dealt with, Dunn said. "It's completely different if both parties agree to that kind of thing. But just randomly sending a picture of your genitalia to someone is completely inappropriate and men need to know that." 

There are several academic studies that have asked men why they send explicit photos of their genitals to women who don't ask for them, but there's been no firm conclusion, said John Sakaluk, a psychology professor at Western University who studies sexuality and relationships. 

"Most of the research that I'm aware of tends to make sense of (unsolicited pictures) through a personality framework that goes by the scary label of the dark triad ... personality traits including Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy, or being really manipulative, self obsessed, and not really having a lot of empathy for other people," Sakaluk said. 

"I think what they're hoping for is, 'Oh, if I send you a nude, you'll send me a nude back,' which obviously doesn't work out for anyone in these non-consensual situations." 

Those who send such pictures aren't thinking of the women who receive them, Sakaluk added. "I think they're approaching a fairly human desire with a very bad strategy." 

One study that asked men why they send unsolicited pictures of their penis found that most do so because they hope to turn the receiver on, that they hope to get a picture in return, and that it's a way to let someone know they're sexually interested in them.