No point in a new perv law
SIR Christopher Chope did himself no favours when he blocked a Private Members’ Bill to make “upskirting” a criminal offence. Accused of being either a pervert or a dinosaur he was taken aback, insisting he had made his stand because he didn’t want to see a badly-drafted law on the statute book. A fair if rather footling point. But his objection has been swept aside with the Government mad keen to pass the law and show just how very right-on it is in the upskirting department.
But without wanting to sound like a dinosaur pervert – tyrannosaurus sex? – do we really need a narrowly targeted law that will make it an offence to take pictures inside someone’s clothing? Doesn’t that already come under “outraging public decency”? If there is any touching (even accidental) then it’s common assault.
More to the point there are offences this law wouldn’t cover. The other day a young woman friend spotted a man sitting opposite her on the London Tube taking pictures of her and fiddling with himself. “I know what you’re doing,” she said loudly. “Stop it.” He pretended not to hear. She got up and shouted in his face, “Stop taking pictures of me.” Good for her.
But although what this man did was horrible it wouldn’t have been covered by the proposed law. He wasn’t photographing up her skirt, because she was wearing trousers.
The alarm about upskirting (a faintly Carry On sort of word) comes about because we are in a terrible bind over digital technology and its effect on issues of privacy, intrusion and how we conduct ourselves generally. Should it be made illegal to take pictures at all in public places? That would have covered my friend’s predicament but is impossible to police and undesirable anyway.
There’s also the legal adage that “hard cases make bad law”. In one ruling the American Supreme Court Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr (1841-1935) explained that some cases seem very significant, “not by reason of their importance… but because of some accident of immediate overwhelming interest which appeals to the feelings and distorts the judgment”.
Upskirting is a perfect example of this – a repulsive activity, highlighted by Gina Martin who grabbed a perv’s camera phone at a festival when she saw what he was up to. The case neatly feeds in to our modern moral panic about smartphones and the internet. Depressingly it also reflects an increasing acceptance that women must always be seen as fragile victims who have to be protected from predatory men.
Meanwhile more and more companies are, under pressure, introducing gender neutral lavatories while changing rooms in shops are often for both sexes. You have there an open invitation for a creep to photograph women’s gussets. Confusing isn’t it?