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The most recent case involved a Hackensack man who was “arrested and charged with invasion of privacy for reaching underneath a woman’s skirt and taking pictures with his cell phone” at a Walgreen‘s, The Bergen Record reported.
The same publication reported a similar story last year: Bergenfield police arrested a 21-year-old man who they said pointed a cell phone camera up the skirt of an 18-year-old high school student as she stood on line at a convenience store.
Each story treated the incidents in isolation, with no context. Either the reporters, editors, copy editors, photographers and others employed by the company didn’t consider the larger ramifications important or they didn’t know what they were dealing with.
Jerry DeMarco Publisher/Editor
Upskirting is a cottage industry, one that has become so prevalent that human rights organizations have called for lawmakers to crack down.
Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of these images are posted online, most on sites devoted to the practice. Any of the photos could be of you, a sister, a cousin, a friend — or a young daughter.
We’re not talking crotch shots that the paparazzi take of celebrities getting into or out of their cars.
Upskirters will position their cells or cameras in low-hung bags, or they’ll stand under stairways or ride escalators. In one instance, a Kentucky middle school teacher was arrested after he was reportedly caught under the cheerleaders’ bleachers.
Others, as in the cases cited above, will sidle up to their victim and lower their hands to get a cellphone into position.
Ever wonder why some cellphones make a shutter sound every time you take a picture? There’s a reason — and it‘s not about being a cute little feature. Japanese manufacturers included the “click” as a built-in warning to women after “upskirting” became extremely popular there.
Men have plenty of places where they can legally see women’s private areas. Upskirting is invasive, a personal violation. Digital technology and Internet warp speed have made the practice into a game in which the “winners” go free.
The ignorance should stop here.
Lawmakers in Trenton, or even in Washington, D.C., should make it their business not only to enhance penalties for upskirting, but to give law enforcement the right to track down and prosecute violators.
Just because one local media organization is apparently ignorant of this insidious trend — and the obvious lack of deterrence — doesn’t mean anyone else should be.
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