Upskirting: What you need to know
On 12th April 2019, Upskirting became a criminal offence in England and Wales, which meant offenders could face up to two years in prison and in serious cases could also be added to the sex offender register.
What is upskirting?
According to the UK Government 'upskirting is a highly intrusive practice, which typically involves someone taking a picture under another person’s clothing without their knowledge, with the intention of viewing their genitals or buttocks (with or without underwear).’
Upskirting can take place in multiple places from schools and colleges to public places such as on public transport or even in the streets. Anyone, of any age or gender, can be the victim of Upskirting and often the purpose of Upskirting is to obtain sexual gratification without that person’s consent or to cause humiliation, distress or alarm.
Gina Martin
In 2018 Gina was at a music festival in Hyde Park, London, when she saw a man looking at a picture on his phone that had been taken up a woman’s skirt. Gina realised that the image was of her and had been taken without her consent.
“Two guys standing nearby were acting really creepy towards us,” she explained. “I told them to leave us alone and kind of brushed it off. About half an hour later, I saw one of them holding his phone, he was on WhatsApp. There was a picture, and it was up a girl’s skirt, right between her legs. I just knew it was me.” - Gina Martin
Once Gina had confirmed her identity in the image, she took the phone to the security guards who promptly called the police. However, when officers arrived onsite all they did was ask them to delete the photo. A few days later Gina received a phone call telling her that the case had been closed and no criminal charges would be brought against the man who had taken the photo of her. After that, Gina decided to start campaigning to make upskirting a criminal offence in England and Wales.
Upskirting statistics
Sadly, Gina's experience is not an unusual one. When Gina started to campaign for upskirting to become a criminal offence the Press Association made a Freedom of Information (FoI) request to police forces in England and Wales. The result showed that since 2015 there had been 78 offences perused by police in relation to upskirting. The majority of these cases involve alleged offences against young women and girls. In most cases, many had to be dropped due to lack of evidence – including a case involving an alleged offence on a 10-year-old girl. Out of all the cases, only 11 offenders were charged.
Previously upskirting did not fall under the ‘voyeurism offence’ in the Sexual Offences act 2003 which makes it a crime if someone, for sexual gratification and without consent, observes another person doing a private act. upskirting often occurs in a public place which meant a person could not be considered ‘doing a private act.’ Upskirting photos are also not always intended for sexual gratification but to also humiliate and harass the victims.
Upskirting - a criminal offence
On 12 April 2019, a new law banning the invasive practice came into force across England and Wales and offenders can now be arrested and sent to prison. The criminal offence of ‘upskirting’ was created under the Voyeurism Act when it received Royal Assent in February 2019.
Police and prosecutors have now updated their guidance to ensure the law is properly enforced – with offenders facing up to two years in jail and being placed on the sex offenders register. The law was changed following campaigning from Gina Martin and other victims, MPs and charities who worked closely with Ministers to create the new law and protect more victims.
At the time, Justice Minister Lucy Frazer said:
“We have always been clear – there are no excuses for this behaviour and offenders should feel the full force of the law. From today, they will.
“By taking decisive action and working closely with Gina Martin and other campaigners, we have ensured more people are protected from this degrading and humiliating practice.”
The Voyeurism Act outlaws ‘upskirting’ where the purpose is to obtain sexual gratification or to cause humiliation, distress or alarm. This includes instances where culprits say images were just taken ‘for a laugh’ or when paparazzi are caught taking intrusive images. It creates 2 new offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The changes will cover England and Wales; ‘upskirting’ is already a specific offence in Scotland.
What should schools do about upskirting?
Dawn Jotham is EduCare’s Pastoral Care Expert, she advises:
“We have already seen a need for schools to adapt and extend their child protection policies to refer to peer on peer abuse. The Department for Education sees upskirting as a form of peer-on-peer abuse so schools now have an additional requirement to include a reference specifically to upskirting in their policies.
“What may seem like harmless fun can have deeper consequences for both the victim and the perpetrator and everyone should be made aware of this.”
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