Upskirting is the act of taking images and video up a woman’s skirt or dress without her knowledge, usually done in public for personal or online sharing. It is a crime in parts of the UK.
“The practice of ‘upskirting,’ or taking photos under a skirt or kilt without the wearer’s consent, became a criminal offense [in England and Wales] Tuesday [2/12/2019] after Queen Elizabeth II officially signed a bill into law. … Activist Gina Martin spearheaded the criminalization of upskirting after she became a victim in 2017,” according to an article on that day on IBTimes.com, which also said, “U.S. lawmakers are also looking to criminalize upskirting, though laws vary by state.”
Cameras hidden on shoes and smartphones are some of the devices used by perpetrators to take nonconsensual photos under women’s dresses and skirts.
The sourced articles below should provide you more information on upskirting.
- Online Removal Guide
“At Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, we know how traumatic and distressing it can be to find your intimate images online when you didn’t consent to them being shared. We worked with all of the major social media and tech companies to come up with the following document to provide you with a list of how to report this violation on all of their platforms.
[1.] Things to consider before reporting / what you can expect …
[2.] Document the post in case you want to take further action. …”Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, cybercivilrights.org, accessed on 4/27/2019; (Broken link removed 10/2022)
- Queen Elizabeth II Signs Bill Making ‘Upskirting’ Illegal In UK, But Is It Illegal In The US?E
“The practice of ‘upskirting,’ or taking photos under a skirt or kilt without the wearer’s consent, became a criminal offense Tuesday [2/12/2019] after Queen Elizabeth II officially signed a bill into law. … Activist Gina Martin spearheaded the criminalization of upskirting after she became a victim in 2017. As the BBC reported, the incident occurred when a man took a photo of Martin’s crotch while she attended an outdoor music festival. … U.S. lawmakers are also looking to criminalize upskirting, though laws vary by state.”
J.E. Reich, ibtimes.com, 2/12/2019
- Can Upskirting Be Addictive?
“Upskirting is one of many sexual acts that are present among those individuals that have a voyeuristic disorder. In an article for the Law Gazette in July 2017 (‘Fifty shades of sexual offending’), forensic psychologist Dr. Julia Lam made countless references to upskirting in an overview of voyeuristic disorder. … She reported that voyeurism is the most common type of sexual offense and that voyeurs can be men or women but that ‘men are commonly the perpetrators in the peeping acts/upskirt, with women being the victims’.”
Mark D. Griffiths, PhD, psychologytoday.com, 1/17/2019
- How Do We Still Not Have Laws Against Upskirts?
“But the ‘privacy on a public street’ angle is an interesting legal question, because laws are changing on that issue. Sure you have no expectation of privacy while in public. But some states have addressed the fact that you do have an expectation of privacy over your… private parts that you are trying to cover in public. … But the classic case of upskirting — angling a camera underneath the clothes of an unsuspecting woman, or lying in wait for a woman to get out of a car or something — is a form of gender-based harassment. It’s non-consensual, intimidating, and happens almost exclusively to women who are just trying to walk around in public. It happens to women who are private figures, and happens to women who are public figures who are then blamed for asking for it.”
Elie Mystal, abovethelaw.com, 11/5/2018
- Shoe Camera Explodes, Foiling Man’s Plans To Take Videos Up Women’s Skirts
“A man who was planning to take videos up women’s skirts had his plans go up in smoke when the battery in his shoe camera exploded, Madison police said.”
Bill Novak and Isabella Dally-Steele, madison.com, 6/27/2018
- ‘Upskirting’ And ‘Revenge Porn’: The Need For A Comprehensive Law
“Whether it involves voyeurism, upskirting, revenge porn or sexual extortion, in all cases the images or videos are sexual, private and intimate. Victims can suffer harassment, and highly sexualised abuse such as rape threats. Like other cases of sexual offending, the harms victims experience include a fundamental breach of their autonomy, trust, sexual integrity and privacy.”
Erika Rackley, Professor of Law, University of Birmingham, and Clare McGlynn, Professor of Law, Durham University, theconversation.com, 6/15/2018
- Inside The Private Forums Where Men Illegally Trade Upskirt Photos
“Social media companies such as Reddit have continually cracked down on so-called creepshots—revealing, close-up images of women taken without their consent, often in public. But communities dedicated to sharing the images, including ‘upskirt’ videos which are often illegal in the US, have formed their own private forums to trade offending pictures and clips away from the terms of service of social media networks.”
Joseph Cox, motherboard.vice.com, 5/8/2018
- Upskirting – Is It Against The Law?
“Why is upskirting legal in some states?
There are two primary reasons for this. The first is that upskirting often occurs in public places like stores, parks, or subways. While voyeurism laws are in place to protect people in places like locker rooms or bathrooms, they don’t necessarily apply to open public spaces. The second reason has to do with the rapid development of technology. …
– Pennsylvania – Upskirting is considered a misdemeanor … as photos and videos cannot be taken of someone’s intimate parts without their consent, even in a public area.
– New Jersey – … Governor Christie signed a law to criminalize upskirting as a fourth-degree crime. Violators could pay a fine up to $10,000 or face up to 18 months in prison. …
– New York – … upskirting is considered a Class E felony which is punishable by one to four years in prison. …”Jacobson & Rooks, LLC, morganrooks.com, 3/15/2017
- In Many States, It’s Still Legal For Creeps To Photograph Up Your Skirt
“In the past couple of years, only a handful of states have passed legislation making it illegal to shoot photos or videos up a woman’s skirt or down a woman’s blouse, but it’s usually been after a woman’s privacy has already been violated. … Christina Gagnier is a California lawyer and advisor for Without My Consent, an organization working to fight online harassment. She tells Broadly that states are starting to address the problem of non-consensual pornography, or someone taking the photo or video of another person in a nude or semi-nude state without their consent.”
Kimberly Lawson, broadly.vice.com, 7/20/2016