On a Wednesday in 2014 a man took pictures up the skirt of an unknowing woman and was arrested. On Thursday he was released because there technically wasn’t any law against it because the woman wasn’t “fully nude”. On Friday the peeping Tom behavior became illegal in the state of Massachusetts because it was common sense. Within two days, Massachusetts recognized its flaw towards people who wear dresses and skirts and fixed it.
Let’s cut to July 2016, just a few months ago. The same thing happened in Georgia; a man took pictures up a woman’s skirt and was arrested. The judicial system found the same thing Massachusetts had, there was no law against the practice. Now, you would think the same thing would happen as did in Massachusetts as well; the courts would quickly realize their mistake and pass a law against the creepy behavior. But this is not Massachusetts. This is Georgia.
No one in the Georgia appeals court thought this behavior was illegal. They will say this is because of one tiny word: place. The full invasion of privacy law prohibits “the use of any device, without the consent of all persons observed, to observe, photograph, or record the activities of another which occur in any private place and out of public view”. Apparently “private place” does not include up a skirt. Up a skirt, in Georgia at least, is a public place that I guess anyone can visit, at least in Georgia. I suppose to be fair, the legislators of Georgia said they’re going to deal with the “gap in legislation” during the next legislative session. But guess what? The session isn’t until January! So from now ‘til at least January, it is legal to take pictures up someone’s skirt in the great state of Georgia.
It is another setback for women. While Massachusetts women Elizabeth Warren and Niki Tsongas, Georgia women have to make sure no one takes pictures up their skirts because no one else will. You might be thinking this is another “North vs South” debate but it’s really not. Virginia added wording to make sure this kind of thing was clearly illegal. Even Texas, where the majority of residents think Planned Parenthood operates solely on the blood of unborn fetuses, passed a law to stop this type of lewd behavior.
This might not be a huge issue but it reflects the ideas of states and lawmakers about the protection of women. Telling women to be on the lookout for upskirters is just like telling college women to watch out for rapists rather than telling college men to not rape.
