Opinion For too long bystanders of sexual harassment have not been held accountable. That’s got to change. However, existing criminal law does not necessarily cover every instance of ‘upskirting.’ Creating a specific ‘upskirting’ offence strengthens the law in this area, as it doesn’t have the same limitations as existing offences. The Voyeurism Act allows this intrusive behaviour to be treated as a sexual offence and, ensure that the most serious offenders are made subject to notification requirements (commonly referred to as the ‘sex offenders register’).

Gina Martin, the gender equality campaigner, speaker and writer, joins us on the publication day of her new book, No Offence, But … A report from UN Women UK has shown that 71 per cent of women of all ages have experienced some form of sexual harassment in a public space.

Why was there no law on upskirting in England and Wales before?

The new law captures instances where the purpose is to obtain sexual gratification or cause humiliation, distress or alarm. You see, what I need in a society where the threat of danger is ongoing is not the same as the society I want. I can’t opt out of this reality, but I can see where we could be and I want to be part of helping us get there. I don’t want more prisons and punishment. I want more prevention. A small number of men convicted of upskirting have been sentenced to prison under my law (and a significant number of them were also convicted of other sexual offences; one was found to have 250,000 indecent images of children). While I am thankful that children will be safer because of his conviction, my work now also asks, “How do we prevent this before we need to criminalise it?” 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. Today, the Voyeurism Act comes into effect and I’m so happy. Finally we have a fit-for-purpose law that protects against every instance of upskirting - as we should have always had. That’s why I host sessions on misogyny and the impact of it; why I’m training in facilitation so I can run workshops with young people on masculinities and gender; and why I speak in schools across the UK as well as raise funds for grassroots organisations. There may not be a big, sparkly win, but there will be consistent impact in the form of smaller wins. There may not be headlines about the boys who attended masculinity workshops and grew up respecting people of all genders more, or about the girls who felt seen and used their voices because of activists who created spaces for them, but I’d much rather move forward as that woman than “the upskirting girl”. Even though it’s much less catchy.

We hope that this new law will be another step forward in challenging the prevailing sexist attitudes and behaviours in our society that underpin violence against women and girls. Domestic abuse does not happen in a cultural vacuum. By making upskirting a criminal offence, we will send out the powerful message that this form of abuse is unacceptable and perpetrators of this crime will be held to account. As of today (12 April 2019) ‘upskirting’ offenders can be arrested and sent to prison as a new law banning the invasive practice comes into force across England and Wales. Girls are just effervescent they’re like, yes! They don’t have an option to talk about sexual harassment, sexism and gender double standards. They don’t feel necessarily comfortable doing it with the teachers because they feel like they’ll get in trouble.”Beyond Equality is an organisation that educates men to preventing gender-based violence, conducting workshops in schools and universities.

The Voyeurism Act creates 2 new offences to make the act of upskirting a specific criminal offence. Despite her campaign’s success in igniting debates about misogyny and sexism, the fight for women’s rights is far from over.

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Beyond Equality also provide teacher training to help teachers at the frontline in the fight against gender-based violence and misogyny.

In 2017, I believed the best way to prevent upskirting was by criminalising it; it was the biggest I could think and would lead to the most impactful change. The institutional script teaches us that prosecuting people for the harm they cause will solve the problem. I was also driven by the experience of being a victim of stalking who had spent years feeling terrified by a man that the state didn’t deal with, so to me, changing the law was about making victims and survivors feel safer by giving them something to use. I didn’t ask if the men who commit this act – because it is overwhelmingly men – would be changed by the process. I didn’t think of them much at all. In 2021, the high-profile murder cases of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa prompted a national call to protect women.Gina Martin and other victims, charities and MPs supporting her should be immensely proud. Her efforts show how one campaigner can work with government to change the law for everyone. However, following concerns raised by victims that not all instances of ‘upskirting’ were covered by current law, the government acted to create a new, specific offence. 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. In June 2021, the Department of Education announced that school and college leaders will be provided with training and support to deal with sexual harassment.