"No Offence, But...": How to have difficult conversations for meaningful change

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The move follows tireless efforts by campaigners, victims, charities, ministers and MPs to close a small gap in the law. The issue was first brought to the public’s attention by the unwavering campaign of Gina Martin, after two men took a picture up her skirt at a festival. I’ve known about them since 2017. I’ve followed their work because the way that they do the work is the way we solve the problem or start to solve it. They engage men and boys on gender, equality and feminism,” she said. The Voyeurism Act creates 2 new offences to make the act of upskirting a specific criminal offence.

Today, the Voyeurism Act comes into effect and I’m so happy. Finally we have a fit-for-purpose law that protects against every instance of upskirting - as we should have always had. We have always been clear – there are no excuses for this behaviour and offenders should feel the full force of the law. From today, they will. That’s why I host sessions on misogyny and the impact of it; why I’m training in facilitation so I can run workshops with young people on masculinities and gender; and why I speak in schools across the UK as well as raise funds for grassroots organisations. There may not be a big, sparkly win, but there will be consistent impact in the form of smaller wins. There may not be headlines about the boys who attended masculinity workshops and grew up respecting people of all genders more, or about the girls who felt seen and used their voices because of activists who created spaces for them, but I’d much rather move forward as that woman than “the upskirting girl”. Even though it’s much less catchy. In my work as a gender equality activist, the question I most get asked is, "how do you respond to...?", followed by one of those phrases that leave us feeling frustrated or tongue-tied. In this book, you'll find an empowering roadmap for changing the conversation on social justice issues.'By taking decisive action and working closely with Gina Martin and other campaigners, we have ensured more people are protected from this degrading and humiliating practice. It creates two new offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to capture this behaviour. The changes will cover England and Wales; ‘upskirting’ is already a specific offence in Scotland. Gina Martin and other victims, charities and MPs supporting her should be immensely proud. Her efforts show how one campaigner can work with government to change the law for everyone.

You see, what I need in a society where the threat of danger is ongoing is not the same as the society I want. I can’t opt out of this reality, but I can see where we could be and I want to be part of helping us get there. I don’t want more prisons and punishment. I want more prevention. A small number of men convicted of upskirting have been sentenced to prison under my law (and a significant number of them were also convicted of other sexual offences; one was found to have 250,000 indecent images of children). While I am thankful that children will be safer because of his conviction, my work now also asks, “How do we prevent this before we need to criminalise it?” In 2017, Gina and her sister attended British Summertime, a family-friendly daytime festival in London. At 5pm, in a crowd of over 60,000 people, they were standing next to a group of men who were overstepping the mark when interacting with Gina and her sister, including making jokes that then turned into more vulgar and sexual comments. To Gina’s horror, she then caught a glimpse of one of the group's phones and on it was a picture of her crotch.However, existing criminal law does not necessarily cover every instance of ‘upskirting.’ Creating a specific ‘upskirting’ offence strengthens the law in this area, as it doesn’t have the same limitations as existing offences. The Voyeurism Act allows this intrusive behaviour to be treated as a sexual offence and, ensure that the most serious offenders are made subject to notification requirements (commonly referred to as the ‘sex offenders register’).