By Megan Cathey, Staff Writer, Emerson College
Thousands of pornography sites, advertisements, television shows, movies, and magazines are full of sexy images of women. Huge quantities of sexualized media are available right at your fingertips.
But for some, that’s still not enough, because they’re not interested in women knowingly posing for their enjoyment.
Enter the website Creepshots.com, a place where your Average Joe can snap a photo of an unsuspecting woman and upload it to the site. The site defines a “creepshot” as a photo that “captures the natural sexy, embarrassing or funny aspect of the subject matter/person without their knowledge.” Uploaded photos are usually accompanied by profane and sexually explicit captions.
Targets cover a wide range of ages, ethnicities, and sizes. They can take pictures of you, your friends, your mother, your daughter ‒ anyone they please. The only requirement for the site is that the woman cannot know that her picture is being taken. In some cases it’s clear the photographer followed the woman to get multiple shots of her. Sound like stalking? That’s because it is.
Even stepping outside your house poses a risk for unwanted attention. It’s bad enough worrying about being verbally harassed, now there’s the added worry that a candid picture of your backside will be uploaded online for thousands to see. Women can’t even go outside without the fear of someone objectifying and demeaning them. Coffee shops, public transportation, shops, your office, school, gym, virtually any public space is fair game.
The problem is that there’s nothing legally that can be done to stop it. Congress passed the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act in 2004, prohibiting “knowingly videotaping, photographing, filming, recording by any means, or broadcasting an image of a private area of an individual, without that individual's consent, under circumstances in which that individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy.” However, their definition of “private area” only applies to “the naked or undergarment clad genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female breast of an individual.” Since creepshots don’t accept nudity, its content is exempt from the act.
Although the site says they can take down a photo if requested, it fails to realize that once photos are put online, they are never truly erased. Who knows how many people have saved the images to their computers, or shared them on other websites? The site also tells women whose photos are uploaded to be flattered “that there is something about you sexy enough that somebody wanted to creep you and send it in.” This statement in and of itself trivializes the woman’s potential feelings of embarrassment and shame.
The scary thing about Creepshots is that it caters to people who get off on violating and demeaning women. It’s sexy to them because it’s done without consent. They own a piece of you with your permission. And that’s the very essence of rape culture. Creepshots exists under the premise that all women are meant for male pleasure – they want to make all women pornography. And with no legal implications, there’s nothing stopping them.
Megan is a freshman Writing, Literature & Publishing major from sunny Scottsdale, Arizona. She enjoys red lipstick, kombucha, cats, and driving her Volkswagen Beetle named Sasha. She also pretends she's Marina & the Diamonds in her spare time. You can contact Megan on her Twitter orFacebook.
Image: Huffington Post
Thousands of pornography sites, advertisements, television shows, movies, and magazines are full of sexy images of women. Huge quantities of sexualized media are available right at your fingertips.
But for some, that’s still not enough, because they’re not interested in women knowingly posing for their enjoyment.
Enter the website Creepshots.com, a place where your Average Joe can snap a photo of an unsuspecting woman and upload it to the site. The site defines a “creepshot” as a photo that “captures the natural sexy, embarrassing or funny aspect of the subject matter/person without their knowledge.” Uploaded photos are usually accompanied by profane and sexually explicit captions.
Targets cover a wide range of ages, ethnicities, and sizes. They can take pictures of you, your friends, your mother, your daughter ‒ anyone they please. The only requirement for the site is that the woman cannot know that her picture is being taken. In some cases it’s clear the photographer followed the woman to get multiple shots of her. Sound like stalking? That’s because it is.
Even stepping outside your house poses a risk for unwanted attention. It’s bad enough worrying about being verbally harassed, now there’s the added worry that a candid picture of your backside will be uploaded online for thousands to see. Women can’t even go outside without the fear of someone objectifying and demeaning them. Coffee shops, public transportation, shops, your office, school, gym, virtually any public space is fair game.
The problem is that there’s nothing legally that can be done to stop it. Congress passed the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act in 2004, prohibiting “knowingly videotaping, photographing, filming, recording by any means, or broadcasting an image of a private area of an individual, without that individual's consent, under circumstances in which that individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy.” However, their definition of “private area” only applies to “the naked or undergarment clad genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female breast of an individual.” Since creepshots don’t accept nudity, its content is exempt from the act.
Although the site says they can take down a photo if requested, it fails to realize that once photos are put online, they are never truly erased. Who knows how many people have saved the images to their computers, or shared them on other websites? The site also tells women whose photos are uploaded to be flattered “that there is something about you sexy enough that somebody wanted to creep you and send it in.” This statement in and of itself trivializes the woman’s potential feelings of embarrassment and shame.
The scary thing about Creepshots is that it caters to people who get off on violating and demeaning women. It’s sexy to them because it’s done without consent. They own a piece of you with your permission. And that’s the very essence of rape culture. Creepshots exists under the premise that all women are meant for male pleasure – they want to make all women pornography. And with no legal implications, there’s nothing stopping them.
Megan is a freshman Writing, Literature & Publishing major from sunny Scottsdale, Arizona. She enjoys red lipstick, kombucha, cats, and driving her Volkswagen Beetle named Sasha. She also pretends she's Marina & the Diamonds in her spare time. You can contact Megan on her Twitter orFacebook.
Image: Huffington Post