![]() But it may deter many.Īnd even if a law doesn’t deter everyone, there are other actions we can take to try to stop future violations. I am not naïve enough to think a law will deter every upskirt recorder. Further, it is incongruent to have such recordings be legal in one state but not in the next. Why do we need a law against upskirt recordings? While there are pitfalls to laws - including how hard it can be to enforce them and how the legal system is often fraught with racism, sexism, and victim-blaming - they can set the tone that certain behavior is not OK. Street harassment can make people feel less safe, affect them emotionally, and be re-traumatizing for survivors of sexual abuse. It affects at least 65% of women and 25% of men (for the latter, the harassment mostly takes the form of homophobic slurs). ![]() Upskirt recordings are a form of gender-based street harassment, and street harassment is a widespread problem in the United States, ranging from sexual comments to following and groping. If they have been recorded before or know someone who has, they may feel violated, upset and distrusting while in public spaces. Instead it can make women as a whole feel less safe and comfortable in public spaces just knowing that they could be the target of such actions. Taking recordings up someone’s skirt, especially to share online or use in other ways for sexual gratification, does not add anything productive or positive to society. Some may wonder why it is important to prohibit such behavior, especially if many women are unaware that they are being recorded. The governor signed it into law a mere two days after the court’s ruling.Ī similar scenario played out in Texas last year, where a new law was passed prohibiting upskirt recordings soon after the wording of the previous law allowed a man to get away with taking photos up a woman’s skirt as she shopped in a store. Legislators in Massachusetts immediately drafted a new law making it illegal for someone to take secret photographs and recordings, even when someone is fully clothed. His case went to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court where the judges ruled in March 2014 that the upskirt photos he took were legal because the women were fully clothed. In 2010, a Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority undercover female police officer caught Michael Robertson taking cellphone photos and videos up female riders’ skirts and dresses. It shouldn’t require a case reaching the state’s Court of Appeals or Supreme Court for people to realize upskirt recording are legal, but if it does, states like Georgia can follow the lead of Massachusetts and Texas lawmakers.
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