Laura Whitmore has criticised the way upskirting is reported and called for it to be criminalised.
The TV presenter took to twitter to share a story about a man who was arrested in the UK for ‘holding a smartphone below a woman’s skirt,’
Along with the article, Laura said: “This is horrible… and what’s worse in the UK he could get paid by a paper and they’d be printed shaming the woman.”
She added: “The petition calling for “upskirting” to be added to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 has been backed by nearly 100,000 people across the UK…
“The bill will get a second reading on June 15th to make #upskirtingillegal
“Upskirting should be a criminal offence and not supported by our media outlets. It’s is a violation of privacy and degrading of women.”
The definition of the horrific ‘upskirting’ is the practice of taking unauthorized photographs under a woman’s skirt.
Back in April, Laura spoke out about abuse against women in an essay.
Among many issues pertaining to women that Laura spoke about, was that of photographers attempting to get photos of her underwear.
“I had a photographer who took pictures of me as I was getting out of a car outside my flat, on a summer’s afternoon about two years ago. I was wearing a floral summer dress, carrying my dog and shopping bags. The article (I use the term loosely) that accompanied the images read ‘near pants shot’.
“For the next week, I again spotted a car with a photographer outside my flat. In fact, I even called the police one day as I have an elderly neighbour, and didn’t want to freak her out or have the front of my home printed in some newspaper – that’s not what I have signed up for, nor should I be coerced into it. It’s embarrassing,” she wrote for Hotpress.
“The police officer told me that there was nothing I could do about it: he was free to take pictures of me in public spaces and the footpath outside my home is public property – like I’m in some sort of urban zoo. I took a picture of the photographer in question, parked in one of the disabled parking spots, and posted it on Twitter (he wasn’t happy about that), in the hope that it would have him moved. It didn’t.
“I remember the next few days wearing jeans in case it might happen again. Imagine that being something you have to actually think about, when you are getting dressed in the morning. I’ve posed for fashion shoots in underwear on closed sets in the past and in an environment I felt comfortable and empowered in. It was my choice. But that shouldn’t make me a target for this behavior, should it? I now worry: will a man put a camera under my skirt? How is this the world we live in? How is this legal?”