The House of Lords passed a bill in early February to make upskirting a crime in England and Wales meaning offenders could face up to two years in jail.
Campaigner Gina Martin has been lobbying for the act of taking a photograph up someone’s skirt to be made illegal since she became a victim of the non-physical sexual assault at a summer music festival eighteen months ago.
The bill could have been passed much sooner. Conservative MP Sir Christopher Chope shouted ‘object’ from the bench during the Commons review, which was enough to put the bill at the bottom of the pile for review. The Guardian reported that he felt ‘a bit sore about being scapegoated’ as he did in fact support the bill and ‘only objected it for procedural reasons’ as he believes bills should not be passed without debate.
Despite his objection, the Prime Minister promised the bill would be passed and following cross-party support from various MPs and famous faces such as Holly Willoughby, Laura Whitmore and Dermot O’Leary, the bill received Royal Assent earlier this month.
While this move is hugely progressive, attitudes towards the act of voyeurism are still complex. YouGov and GQ produced a poll called ‘State of Man’ which revealed 15 per cent of men aged between 25 and 34 ‘do not consider upskirting in the workplace to be a sexual harassment’. This worrying attitude is unnervingly reflected online. Pinterest and Reddit threads dedicated to upskirting are easy to find, despite a subreddit forum dedicated to ‘creep shots’ or voyeuristic, non-consensual photographs, being banned in 2012.
Another YouGov poll revealed that 85 per cent of women aged between 18 and 25 said they had been sexually harassed in public places. These figures reduced slightly to 64 per cent when the age bracket was widened to include all women. These shocking numbers prove harassment is prevalent for women on a daily basis.
Tougher laws, such as the upskirting bill and misogyny now being classed as a hate crime, will hopefully reduce these figures, however the GQ report proves it’s the public attitude towards sexual harassment that really needs to change for a tangible difference to be made.