Emine Saner writes more about this not-so-new phenomenon of men who think it's perfectly acceptable and not at all violating to thrust their lenses between your unsuspecting legs and snap away like they belong there.

It is impossible to judge how many women have been victims of upskirting, though a quick internet search yields hundreds of sites with hundreds of thousands of images. And there may be millions more pictures on phones and laptops that have never been shared. They have been taken in the street, on escalators in shopping centres, on trains, at bus stops and in supermarkets, schools, offices and nightclubs.

Basically, anywhere you might have gone, someone might have been trying to see your underpants. A quick survey of Jezebel editors reveals that at least two of us has been upskirted to our knowledge (my upskirter caught an edge on his camera on my fishnets, ripping them and revealing himself) — though, more often than not, you don't even know.

And, in Britain, it's a cottage industry.

Upskirt photography is also routinely used by paparazzi photographers. Usually taken as a woman steps out of a car, "crotch shots" are prized by newspapers such as the Daily Sport and countless gossip and porn websites. While it is often assumed that a handful of celebrities, such as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, actively encourage upskirt shots, many famous women are deeply upset by the prospect. In a recent interview, the Harry Potter actor Emma Watson described how, on a night out to celebrate her 18th birthday, "I realised that overnight I'd become fair game."

Now, that's just gross.

As in the U.S., there are few laws that specifically cover upskirting, though Linda Macpherson, a law professor and "expert on legal aspects of photography," was able to cite several prosecutions of upskirters that resulted in jail time or fines. But the legal aspect isn't the biggest problem for a lot of women.

For women who have become aware of such pictures being taken of them, "it can be extremely distressing," says a spokesperson from Victim Support. "The sense of violation can be the same as with other forms of sexual assault. We would encourage anyone who has been a victim to contact us." Parkinson says of her experience, "I felt unsettled, targeted, and helpless; there was nothing that could be done about what had happened, and nothing I could do to prevent it from happening again."

For the men that do it, it's obviously not about getting pictures of women's genitals (most of us wear underwear, after all), but it's the thrill of getting a picture of something they could see on a beach or in an underwear ad when it isn't consensual. They're not interested in women who want them to look, just like rapists aren't interested in women who want to have sex with them. They're getting off on violating you, not on smutty pictures, which is what makes it disturbing. It's like knowing that your rapist wanks to what he did to you later — it's disgusting, and feels like yet another violation.

'I Felt Completely Violated' [The Guardian]

Clark-Flory writes about to a case where a 34-year-old man took a picture up a 16-year-old girl's skirt but saw his case dismissed because she was in public — and she was practically flashing her cooter by standing in such a way that a man could dive across a floor, and shove a camera between her thighs, so she wasn't entitled to any legal remedy:

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

The men who take and wank to these pictures like to claim that these are "unsuspecting" or "accidental" photos of women — and most, apparently, don't like the ones to which women have actually consented because it's all about the force involved.

Susan Gallagher, a professor of political science at University of Massachusetts Lowell who teaches classes on gender, privacy and politics, points out, "One of the tricks in pornography is that the target is unaware, because then you have power." She says upskirting presents a lesser sexual challenge than, for instance, the "Girls Gone Wild" franchise, that indefatigable chronicler of the spring break rite of boobs and booze. The essential difference here is that candid photographers — rather than the female subjects, in the case of breast-flashing coeds — are able to be the sexual aggressor but without actually having to confront a woman.

Ever feel like a guy was undressing you with his eyes and felt nauseated at the thought? This is that but with pictures to share, taken without your knowledge or consent just because you happened to be in the proximity of one of these freaks.

Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon doesn't pull any punches in responding to the subject Clark-Flory's article: she calls it tantamount to assault, and she's right.

No, upskirt shots are about appealing to something else, and there’s no other way to state this, but it’s the desire to force yourself on a woman. Without coercion, the upskirt shot means nothing. Fans not only admit this, but in the company of what they assume are only men who share their loathing of women (and women’s autonomy), they revel in it.

Because, let's be honest, these aren't unsuspecting women who don't know that they are inadvertently showing something they ought not to show; these aren't accidental nip slips; these aren't whatever bullshit justification these perverts try to claim when discussing their coercive fetishes. These are women who went out in public fully and decently clothed and, because creepy fuckers can twist themselves into knots to look up skirts or down blouses, have been forcibly made into sex objects. Upskirting isn't just some dude noticing something that gives him a hard-on, these are organized groups of men who are, in effect, forcibly undressing unconsenting women in public and posting pictures of the assault. And, in half the states, they have every right to do it to you.

Porn In A Flash [Salon]
Creative Misogynists Still Unable To Imagine Letting Go Of The Hate [Pandagon]