A troubling surge in creepy “upskirt” photography has lawmakers in a twist — and the body parts of women posted all over the Internet.
On a warm summer day two years ago a 16-year-old girl put on a skirt and headed to the SuperTarget in her hometown of Tulsa Okla. As she shopped the air-conditioned aisles a man knelt behind her carefully slid a camera in between her bare legs and snapped a photo of her underwear. Police arrested the 34-year-old man but the charges were ultimately dropped on the grounds that the girl did not as required by the state’s Peeping Tom law have “a right to a reasonable expectation of privacy ” given the public location. In non-legalese Wear a skirt in public and you might just get a camera in the crotch. Locals were outraged. Most women slipping on a summer dress aren t hoping to star in an amateur — or worse yet professional — porno just as most men don t expect strangers to take a snapshot of their package when they wear shorts in public. In response to the ruling Rep. Pam Peterson R-Tulsa introduced a bill making it illegal in Oklahoma to take unauthorized photos of someone s private areas in public; it went into effect earlier this month. For the same reason nearly half the states have had to enact similar laws.
upskirt photography, online voyeurism, street harrassment | Salon Life.
