September 24, 2019

"Voyeurs have created online communities, where they share and sell work, trade tips and egg one another on toward more and more exploitative photos and videos."

"In the process, victims are often exposed to exponentially more eyeballs.... Schklowsky, who taught drama and directed school plays... stashed at least one small camera in a drama department changing room to capture students as they undressed, police said. Such cameras are part of a generation of devices so small they can be hidden almost anywhere. Voyeurs have also turned to a range of devices embedded with cameras. A Johns Hopkins gynecologist filmed women with cameras in pens and phone chargers. A D.C. rabbi used a clock radio with a hidden camera to shoot women who were undressing for a ritual bath. A thriving online marketplace has even more devices: miniature cameras embedded in sneaker tops, shaving cream cans, electric razors and scales...."

From "One accused teacher, 8,000 dirty images: A school’s exploitation shows no place is safe from hidden cameras anymore" (WaPo).

By the way, the headline is terrible. There's nothing "dirty" about teenagers changing their clothes. The evil is in the behavior of anyone who invades their privacy. That evil is not in the pictures. The pictures are evidence of a dirty mind, but it's inaccurate to write "dirty images," and it shows the insidiousness of victim blaming, which I'm sure The Washington Post did not intend.

40 comments:

Sebastian said...

So, how did the voyeurs get unleashed? What moral change enabled their conduct? Who began celebrating vice over virtue?

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Shorthand. Need I explain?

Fernandinande said...

google shopping ["miniature camera" "sneakers"] = no results.

Sigh.

Ann Althouse said...

I created a new tag, "voyeurism." I went back into the archive, and I found 13 old posts on the subject. So... click the tag if you like to look at voyeurism.

Bob Smith said...

Feelzey peectureez. You want feelzey peekturez. Pulls trench coat open, shows peektures.

gilbar said...

Our Beloved Professor Althouse said...
By the way, the headline is terrible. There's nothing "dirty" about teenagers changing their clothes

Well, then WHY were they going to be taking showers? NOT the actions of "Clean" people!!

Ken B said...

As Banks says, “dirty pictures” is shorthand. And I do not think that there is anything dirty about Bridgette Bardot topless or Bo Derek nude or Pamela Anderson with her husband but those were called dirty pictures in their day.

gilbar said...

Fernandistein said...
google shopping ["miniature camera" "sneakers"] = no results.

SHAME ON YOU! google shopping, indeed! Use the Althouse Portal!!!

Spy Camera

Fernandinande said...

There's nothing "dirty" about teenagers changing their clothes.

That depends on how your brain-scans react to dirty pictures.

++

A man goes to a psychiatrist who gives him the Rorschach inkblot test.
(you can't stop me if you've heard this one!)

The shrink holds up the first picture and asks the man what he sees.
"A man and a woman having sex in a park," the man answers.

The psychiatrist holds up the second inkblot -
"A man and a woman having sex in a boat."

The man sees people having sex in all the inkblots, and finally the psych says to him, "You seem to have a preoccupation with sex."

The man replies, "What!? You're the one with the dirty pictures."

Wince said...

They should remake the Incredible Mr. Limpet.

Instead of wishing he were a fish he could will himself to become a fly on the wall.

Insect Voyeurism!

rhhardin said...

All we had was xray glasses.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"So, how did the voyeurs get unleashed? What moral change enabled their conduct? Who began celebrating vice over virtue?"

The same question I frequently ask about mass shootings. Prior to 1968 you could get a gun in the mail with virtually no meaningful paper work. Hmmm, 1968. What changed over the ensuing years and who changed it?

Ken B said...

There is a movie, I think Amazon Prime, called Voyeur about a guy with a motel rigged for voyeurism.

Apple confessed they were sharing surreptitious Siri recordings of people having sex with contractors.

The show about Masters and Johnson was popular.

n.n said...

What moral change enabled their conduct?

Pro-Choice, selective, opportunistic, predatory, ethics or relativistic behavioral protocols. Oh, well. Religion or moral protocols for people capable of self-moderation. Competing interests to mitigate progress of others running amuck.

Ken B said...

Wasn’t the whole Stormy Daniels thing an exercise in voyeurism? Or the “Trump wants to boink his daughter” thing? Or the nude statues of Trump with a tiny penis thing?

Ken B said...

It’s not like this is particularly new. When I moved to Detroit 15years ago there was a chain of stores that sold spy equipment like hidden cameras and voice activated recorders.

Wasn’t there a big hack of celebrity photos a few years ago?

Dave Begley said...

I had an unemployment case when I was an ALJ. Guy goes to the lobby of the main First National Bank of Omaha location in downtown Omaha. Now understand the lobby is full of cameras. This is the biggest bank in Omaha. Beautiful new building. Somehow he tries to take an picture of a female employee's underwear from his shoe and up her skirt. She catches on and starts yelling or something and he runs out.

He then comes back to the exact same location in a few weeks. He returned to the scene of the crime! Tries the exact same thing. Police arrest him.

I can't recall what happened in his criminal case. Probably probation.

The women at his work place hear about this. They are totally creeped out. Don't want to work him. The employer separated him. I can't recall why or how I ruled.

Yancey Ward said...

I remember the first time I ever saw a digital camera- it was at a chemistry conference in San Diego in January of 1996- I distinctly remember thinking to myself that I was glad it was so large- it was no less conspicuous than a regular flash Kodak camera, but I also knew that eventually, the camera would be so small I wouldn't immediately notice it. Of course, now, it is just a small part of a smart phone.

These people have always been with us, the technology hasn't been.

Virgil Hilts said...

I belong to an upscale gym and us affluent older guys do not really care if other guys see us nude in locker room/sauna/steam room, or even notice if other guys happen to have their cell phones out.
But there are lots of beautiful young women and trophy wives at this gym and my bet is that these days it's completely different on other side of the wall. If I was one of them I would hesitate to undress/shower even at this posh place.

tcrosse said...

In Boris Johnson's book Johnson's Life of London, (available you-know-where) he mentions that J.M.W. Turner kept a lively interest in "doing graphic close-ups of copulation - hundreds of erotic or just porno images...." Ruskin was so shocked that he claimed - falsely - to have destroyed them.

Sam L. said...

"The pictures are evidence of a dirty mind, but it's inaccurate to write "dirty images," and it shows the insidiousness of victim blaming, which I'm sure The Washington Post did not intend." I would not put money on that.

chuck said...

> The evil is in the behavior of anyone who invades their privacy.

Maybe they identify as an artist?

CJinPA said...

The gynecologist case is interesting. Unlike most of the others, he gets to see stuff all the time. His excitement was in the sharing.

JohnAnnArbor said...

So... click the tag if you like to look at voyeurism.

Meta-voyeurism.

Leland said...

Lee Child covered the voyeur stuff with his Reacher series book "Make Me". It is likely far worse than just an exploited school. But hey, Trump called the Ukrainian PM! So, this is just a filler story for WaPo, and nothing they are really concerned about addressing.

Ralph L said...

The lens could have been dirty.

Ruskin was so shocked that he claimed - falsely - to have destroyed them

Ruskin claimed his sudden discovery of the existence of female pubic hair on his wedding night put him off sex. Easily traumatized or gay?

paminwi said...

So......if you as a man take surreptitious pictures of girls in the locker room you are a voyeur with nasty thoughts. But....if you barge into a ladies locker room telling everyone you “identify as a girl” and you have your phone in your hand taking pictures then what?

IMO both scenarios are disgusting but only one will get the feminists riled up.

William said...

I try to be as depraved as the limits of my age allow. Still, I don't get this voyeur stuff. Why go to all that trouble and expense to see ordinary girls when you can just click on the internet and see trained professionals disrobe in the most provocative ways possible. America's obesity epidemic must have had some impact on our voyeurs...... Maybe it's the clandestine nature of the act rather than the actual revelation that is the turn on......I see a parallel with the spying on the Trump campaign. They get more excited over the reporting on these secret meetings and conversations than what is actually said at them.

Pianoman said...

@AA : "I created a new tag, "voyeurism." I went back into the archive, and I found 13 old posts on the subject. So... click the tag if you like to look at voyeurism."

I see what you did there.

Dad29 said...

Begging to differ, Professor. The classic definition of "dirty pictures" was applied to pictures of women who were semi-clad or un-clad, sold or purveyed to males. Prurient interest. Playboy Magazine. That's the way it was, at least here in the Midwest, through the 1960's.

You may quibble about the use of the phrase, but you may not re-write the definition.

stevew said...

That's despicable behavior, and evil too.

Pianoman said...

@William : "Maybe it's the clandestine nature of the act rather than the actual revelation that is the turn on."

Bingo. It's not only the nudity, but it's the secrecy. Also, I think there's an element of "getting away with it".

It's another good example of how the Internet enables these communities to organize ... to "meet up" online. Social media has made it even easier.

Reminds me of that old joke -- not sure where it's at on the Webz, so I need to recite from memory: "The Internet has gotten incredibly detailed and specific. It's at the point where if you put into a search engine, 'Want To Have Sex With Goats On Fire', the Internet will come back and ask, 'What color goat?'"

traditionalguy said...

Maybe we can re-institute public whipping with 40 lashes.

n.n said...

The concept of "privacy" suffered a great leap in the early to mid-twentieth century. It has suffered a liberal progression since then, with several milestones, notably in the last decade. The Chamber has yet to issue ethical advisories, and will likely choose to avoid reconciliation, instead choosing to follow the path of least resistance. It's over.

gilbar said...

Dad29 said...
Begging to differ, Professor. The classic definition of "dirty pictures" was applied to pictures of women who were semi-clad or un-clad, sold or purveyed to males. Prurient interest. Playboy Magazine.


You DO realize, that Our Beloved Professor Althouse grew up (in the '60's) in a house where the parents would leave their Playboys on the Coffee Table? So that anyone who dropped by could look at them? Right? I mean, You DO Know that; Right?

readering said...

Whatever happened to lonelygirl15? Can someone look for me?

Anthony said...

The big question is, What Would Ponytail Flip Girl say?

Dad29 said...

Sorry, Gilbar, I didn't know that. Was not a Peeping Tom, and was East only once: the World's Fair. (Was East a few times much later in life....)

Narr said...

We're all voyeurs in this studio.

Ruskin thought Turner, a mumbler, had asked if he cared to see the latter's "fealty pictures."

Narr
Ruskin kept them for research, of course

Nichevo said...

n.n said...
The concept of "privacy" suffered a great leap in the early to mid-twentieth century.

But at least women can have abortions, so, they've got that going for them.