All eyes on you - and you don't even know it
let's talk about sex, baby
a feminist view
sexed up media portrayal damages girls
women - not sex objects
All eyes on you – and you don't even know it
It's a Saturday night and you're going with your girlfriends for a night on the town. You're feeling sexy in your miniskirt and your four-inch high heels. Your hair is working for you and your make-up looks more than alright. You spent more than an hour on your appearance – and now you're ready to shine!
Overall you made an effort and men may be looking at you – and you know it.
But now it's Tuesday morning and you're going to the supermarket, by yourself. You're not feeling particularly sexy in your scruffy jeans and flip-flops. You didn't pay specific attention to your hair and your make-up is just basic.
You didn't make an effort, but... some men may still be looking at you. And you probably don't know it.
Tight jeans
“I film girls in tight jeans with a hidden camera for an online forum (Mokkels.nl – literally ‘babes’),” says Frank, 23, from the Netherlands. He does not want to reveal his last name.
“On a usual workday I wait in the car until I see a girl with 'good' legs and then follow her. I film her when she bends, shops, takes an escalator... Anything, really.”
Here's a Youtube example of the kind of films Frank makes
it might link to offensive videos
The film is intended for customers who get a kick out of girls in jeans. “They just love to see a girl walking around who is not an actress; users want the video to be 'real',” says Frank.
Big money
The films are sold to customers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the UK. And the third-year economics student makes big money out of it: one DVD with four videos costs £40.
“But overall I’m not even close to having £100,000,” says the 23-year-old.
Legal
For lawful purposes Frank is not allowed to film the girls' faces, although in the Netherlands it is enough to just block their eyes in a video.
The general legal position in the UK is that a press photographer has an established right to 'snap' anyone in a public place without their consent, says Ken Brown, a law lecturer at Bournemouth University. "But it's good practice nonetheless for photographers to ask permission."
"Sinister"
“This is absolutely repulsive and outrageous,” says feminist Sally Cosgrove, 30, from Bristol. “I can barely imagine that this is legal.”
“To some people it might seem harmless, following girls around. You can’t see their face, you can’t recognise them, and it’s just a bit of fun. But there’s a really dark side to it. ‘Sinister’, I’d call it.”
On demand
Nevertheless, the demand is only increasing, according to Frank. In three months the website’s clientèle grew from 800 to 1,000 paying customers per day. “And the DVDs are flying off the shelves.”
“People can even say what brand and colour the jeans should be – and I’ll go out to film them.”
But he wants to stress that he does not have a jeans fetish himself. “Photos and videos - they just don't really work for me.”
Sexualised society
The student and the feminist agree that filming girls secretively to sell images of their bums in jeans illustrates how much today’s society is sexualised.
“An average woman in jeans walking down the street – you wouldn’t expect them being filmed,” says Sally.
“It may seem innocent, but it’s not. The video is being used for a sexual act, and it’s definitely not innocent when that filmed person doesn’t know about it. It doesn’t matter if you can’t see the girl’s face; they might be identified somehow anyway. It’s a huge invasion of privacy and downright stalking.”
Feeling guilty
Frank admits that his part-time job often makes him feel guilty.“It’s the fact that it’s secret. Especially when the girl starts a conversation with me, for instance on the train. The camera is still running and it doesn’t feel right not to say that I’ve been filming her. It's happened three times now – and it makes me wonder at that point, shouldn’t I stop? But then again… The money…”
Some pictures for this feature were taken from Mokkels.nl
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