Voyeurism

DEFINING VOYEURISM

The concept of voyeurism has multiple meanings that have changed over time. Some definitions focus on or suggest deviance in looking, while others do not. Examining the shifting meanings of voyeurism from 1950 through 2004, psychiatrist Jonathan Metzl (2004b) observes that "in present-day America, popular definitions of voyeurism are as broad as psychiatric definitions are narrow" (p. 127). On the one hand, voyeurism may be considered a type of paraphilia—an inappropriate sexual desire or sexual disorder. Viewed in this light and from the perspective of the fields of psychiatry and psychology, voyeurism takes on a negative connotation. It is defined "as the act of becoming sexually aroused by watching some form of nudity or sexual activity of unsuspecting, unconsenting individuals, either adult or children, male or female" (Adams 2000, p. 216). For instance, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (2000) provides that "the paraphilic focus of voyeurism involves the act of observing unsuspecting individuals, usually strangers, who are naked, in the process of disrobing, or engaging in sexual activity" and occurs "for the purposes of achieving sexual excitement" (p. 575). There is not, however, a large body of literature that concentrates exclusively on either voyeurism as a sexual disorder or on its treatment. Thus "the extent to which voyeurism exists in the general population is unknown." (Kaplan and Krueger 1997, p. 298).

Beyond psycho-medical definitions of voyeurism as a pathology or sexual disorder, the term is used much more loosely, in a non-sexual and pop-cultural context, to describe reality television. In 2000, when the television shows Survivor and Big Brother debuted in the United States, the terms voyeur television, voyeur TV, and other variations on the theme were use by many in the popular press to describe the shows. Along these lines, communications and law professor Clay Calvert (2000, p. 2-3) employed the term "mediated voyeurism" to describe "the consumption of revealing images of and information about others' apparently real and unguarded lives, often yet not always for purposes of entertainment but frequently at the expense of privacy and discourse, through the means of the mass media and Internet." This definition is further distinguished from that of voyeurism "as a sexual disorder or form of sexual deviance" (p. 23). Yet others contend there is still something subversive with some forms of voyeuristic television fare. Author Neal Gabler (2000, p. 1) writes that "watching these programs is a way of safely exercising mischievous-ness in a society that allows few opportunities to do so. They allow us to be moral outlaws."

Ultimately, then, there is a definitional divide between abnormal, pathological voyeurism and popular culture's conception of a more normal, acceptable, and non-deviant form of looking for purposes of entertainment. The term voyeurism thus takes on different meanings depending upon the context in which is used.

THE MOST FAMOUS VOYEUR: PEEPING TOM

Perhaps the most famous voyeur in history is a character, found in later versions of the legend of Lady Godiva, who goes by a name instantly recognizable in the early twenty-first century—Peeping Tom. Daniel Donoghue (2003, p. 69) writes that "over the years 'Peeping Tom' has become such a familiar expression that many people are surprised to learn it arose as a by-product of the Godiva legend." Tom is the voyeur who, hidden away, engages in a forbidden and transgressive gaze as he stares at Lady Godiva as she rides naked on the back of a horse through the streets of Coventry in England to protest taxes. The townspeople had been asked to stay inside their homes and not look at Lady Godiva. For such deviant looking, Tom is either blinded or killed, depending on the particular telling of the legend. As Donoghue observes, the instantaneous punishment of Tom became "established as an essential part of the legend" (2000, p. 71) by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The lesson is that some forms of looking are improper and deserve punishment. As discussed later, there are indeed laws against voyeurism, some of which incorporate the name Peeping Tom in their text.

VIDEO VOYEURISM

Of particular concern at the beginning of the twenty-first century is the concept of video voyeurism. As its name suggests, this high-technology voyeurism involves individuals who use tiny cameras—increasingly, cell phone cameras—and other video recording devices such as palm-sized camcorders to capture images of people in various stages of undress. For instance, hidden cameras have been found recording unsuspecting women in store dressing rooms, tanning booths, locker rooms, and public toilets. In addition, specialized cameras that use infrared filter technology can capture images through some types of fabrics, compounding the problem of video voyeurism by actually seeing through clothes and facilitating night-vision peeping in the dark.

One pernicious form of video voyeurism is known as upskirt voyeurism. As the name suggests, this kind of voyeurism often involves the placement of camera-carrying backpacks and book bags at the feet of women, with the cameras pointing and shooting up underneath the women's skirts or dresses. Sometimes the voyeur places a miniature camera in his shoe and then positions his feet near those of the victim to point up under the skirt. Such upskirting may also involve the use of camera phones. For instance, in 2005 a man was arrested at a shopping center in North Attleborough, Massachusetts, for allegedly using a cell phone camera to look up the skirt of a seventeen-year-old girl as she rode an escalator. That same year an Ohio man was placed on three years of probation and made to undergo sex-addition counseling after he was caught in the act of using a camera phone held at his side to take pictures underneath the skirt of a fourteen-year-old girl at a grocery store. The flipside of upskirt voyeurism is known as downblouse voyeurism. As the name implies, it involves using a recording device positioned above the unsuspecting victim to capture images down a woman's blouse or shirt.

The targets of video voyeurism often are harmed in two different ways. First, their sense of privacy is invaded when the video voyeur captures the images. Second, the images themselves may end up on the growing number of sexually explicit Websites featuring voyeuristic images. If the victim finds out about such a posting, the victim suffers further emotional trauma as an object of pornography.

LAWS TARGETING VOYEURISM

Voyeurism raises important legal questions about invasion of privacy. All states in the United States have some form of statute targeting traditional Peeping Toms who physically trespass and peer into windows and secluded places. For instance, Delaware Criminal Code at Section 820 (2005) provides in relevant part that:

A person is guilty of trespassing with intent to peer or peep into a window or door of another when the person knowingly enters upon the occupied property or premises of another utilized as a dwelling, with intent to peer or peep into the window or door of such property or premises and who, while on such property or premises, otherwise acts in a manner commonly referred to as "Peeping Tom."

Such traditional laws against voyeurism fail to address video voyeurism and high-tech peeping practices involving hidden cameras and other recording devices. By the mid-1990s, technology had outstripped the law in this area and there was little statutory authority on the books to stop video voyeurism. It was at that time and through the early years of the twenty-first century when states began to adopt new laws specifically targeting video voyeurism. For instance, on July 1, 2004, Florida Statute Section 810.145 (2005) went into effect, making video voyeurism a criminal offense. Among the various forms of prohibited video voyeurism, the Florida law makes it a crime when a person:

for his or her own amusement, entertainment, sexual arousal, gratification, or profit, or for the purpose of degrading or abusing another person, intentionally uses or installs an imaging device to secretly view, broadcast, or record a person, without that person's knowledge and consent, who is dressing, undressing, or privately exposing the body, at a place and time when that person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Louisiana was one of the first states to adopt a video voyeurism law. Louisiana Revised Statute 14:283 (2005) defines the crime of video voyeurism to include "the use of any camera, videotape, photo-optical, photo-electric, or any other image recording device for the purpose of observing, viewing, photographing, filming, or videotaping a person where that person has not consented to the observing, viewing, photographing, filming, or videotaping and it is for a lewd or lascivious purpose." The United States Congress also became concerned with video voyeurism, and President George W. Bush signed into law in December 2004 the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act of 2004. Section 1801 of Title 18 of the United States Code (2005) provides that a person in the "territorial jurisdiction of the United States, [who] has the intent to capture an image of a private area of an individual without their consent, and knowingly does so under circumstances in which the individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both." The "private area of an individual" under this statute "means the naked or undergarment clad genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female breast of that individual" (18 U.S.C. § 1801, 2005).

see also Exhibitionism; Pornography.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, Henry E. 2000. "Voyeurism." Vol. 8 of Encyclopedia of Psychology, ed. Alan E. Kazdin. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

American Psychiatric Association. 2000. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Ed., Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

Calvert, Clay. 2000. Voyeur Nation: Media, Privacy, and Peering in Modern Culture. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Donoghue, Daniel. 2003. Lady Godiva: A Literary History of a Legend. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Gabler, Neal. July 7, 2000. "Behind the Curtain of TV Voyeurism." Christian Science Monitor: 1.

Kaplan, Meg S., and Richard B. Krueger. 1997. "Voyeurism: Psychopathology and Theory." In Sexual Deviance: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment, ed. D. Richard Laws and William O'Donohue. New York: Guilford Press.

Lorando, Mark. July 26, 2000. "Voyeur TV's Mixed Blessings." Times-Picayune: E1.

Marx, Gary T. 2005. "Seeing Hazily (But Not Darkly) through the Lens: Some Recent Empirical Studies on Surveillance Technologies." Law & Social Inquiry 30(2): 339-399.

Metzl, Jonathan M. 2004a. "From Scopophilia to Survivor: A Brief History of Voyeurism." Textual Practice 18(3): 415-434.

Metzl, Jonathan M. 2004b. "Voyeur Nation? Changing Definitions of Voyeurism, 1950–2004." Harvard Review of Psychiatry 12(2): 127-131.

                                            Clay Calvert