Salon has an article up about a popular (because it’s still largely legal) form of sexual harassment/assault known by its wannabe rapist fans as “upskirting”. It’s interesting—-Tracy Clark-Flory dances around the words “assault” and “harassment”, probably because she doesn’t want the inevitable deluge of men who are defensive of their declining rights to force themselves on women.
But here’s the thing—-from a purely prurient standpoint, surreptitious pictures of women’s panties taken in public are not sexy or particularly interesting. Not compared to photos of completely naked women or people engaging in sex. You’re seeing less in an upskirt shot than you would just flipping through Victoria’s Secret or watching “Baywatch”. Or, if “real” women that aren’t photoshopped is your thing, you can just go to Flickr and look at pictures of people at the beach. You’re one “beach” search away from pictures that show more. No, upskirt shots are about appealing to something else, and there’s no other way to state this, but it’s the desire to force yourself on a woman. Without coercion, the upskirt shot means nothing. Fans not only admit this, but in the company of what they assume are only men who share their loathing of women (and women’s autonomy), they revel in it.