Voyeurism
Voyeurism is a practice in which an individual derives sexual pleasure from observing other people. Such people may be engaged in sexual acts, or be
nude or in
underwear, or dressed in whatever other way the "voyeur" finds appealing. The word derives from
French verb
voir with the
-eur suffix that translates as
-er in English. A literal translation would then be seer or "observer", with pejorative connotations.
Also, the word voyeur can define someone who receives enjoyment from witnessing other people's suffering or misfortune; see schadenfreude.
Encyclopedia
Voyeurism is a practice in which an individual derives sexual pleasure from observing other people. Such people may be engaged in sexual acts, or be
nude or in
underwear, or dressed in whatever other way the "voyeur" finds appealing. The word derives from
French verb
voir with the
-eur suffix that translates as
-er in English. A literal translation would then be “seer” or "observer", with pejorative connotations.
Also, the word voyeur can define someone who receives enjoyment from witnessing other people's suffering or misfortune; see schadenfreude.
Characteristics
Voyeuristic practices may take a number of forms but their characteristic feature is that the voyeur does not directly interact with the object of their voyeurism , instead observing the act from a distance by peeping through an opening or using aids such as
binoculars,
mirrors,
cameras , etc. This stimulus sometimes becomes part of a
masturbation fantasy during or after the observation.
Some voyeurs derive sexual pleasure from looking up skirts or trousers, known as an upskirt. This can be accomplished by camera or simply by a chance viewing when a person sits down. Some voyeurs also derive pleasure by looking down shirts and viewing
breasts, particularly when a person is bending over. This is commonly referred to as a
downblouse.
When done openly, voyeurism may be tolerated or even appreciated, especially if the person viewed is/are
exhibitionist. However, non-consensual voyeurism is considered an invasion of privacy.
Criminalization
In some cultures, voyeurism is considered to be
deviant and even a sex crime. In the
United Kingdom, non-consensual voyeurism became a criminal offence on May 1, 2004, under section 67 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. However, some societies tolerate it depending upon the circumstances . The stereotypical voyeur is male, although many women also enjoy being voyeurs. In
R v Turner All ER 95 the defendant was the manager of a sports centre who recorded footage of four women taking showers. There was no indication that the footage had been shown to anyone else or distributed in any way. The defendant pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and asked that another offence be taken into consideration. He expressed remorse. The Court of Appeal confirmed a sentence of nine months imprisonment to reflect the seriousness of the defendant's abuse of trust and the traumatic effect on the victims.
In
Canada, voyeurism was not a crime when the case
Frey v. Fedoruk et al. [1950] S.C.R....
arose in 1947. In that case, in 1950, the
Supreme Court of Canada decided courts could not criminalize peeping by classifying it as a breach of the peace; Parliament would have to specifically outlaw it. In 2004, the
Parliament of Canada considered Bill C-2, which would have amended the Canadian Criminal Code to establish voyeurism as a sexual offence. It is now in the Criminal Code as section 162.
Some institutions, such as gyms and schools, have banned camera phones because of the privacy issues they raise in areas like changerooms.
Saudi Arabia banned the sale of camera phones nationwide for a period, but reallowed their sale in 2004.
South Korea requires that all camera phones sold in the country make a clearly audible sound whenever a picture is taken.
Voyeurism in fiction
- Voyeurism is something of a clichéd plot device in cinematic fiction, for instance in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window is a motion picture [i] directed by Alfred Hitchcock [i], based on Cornell Woolrich [i]'...
. Other examples include Fame and Porky's is a 1982 [i] 20th Century Fox [i] movie about the sexual escapades of teenagers at a 1950s [i] ...
. Voyeurism is also shown for a brief period in other films, such as Amélie
| amg_id = 1:244109
...
,
American Pie and
Cocoon.
- Another treatment, albeit tongue-in-cheek, occurs in Final Destination 3 is a 2006 horror film [i], the sequel [i] to Final Destination 2 [i] and the ...
.
- A serious psychological treatment of the topic in cinema was done in Peeping Tom.
- Ecouterism is a variant of voyeurism that involves listening rather than seeing.
DSM IV Classification
According to DSM IV , where all psychiatric illnesses are represented as numerals to avoid confusion, voyeurism is classified as a
paraphilia with code .
See also
- Glory hole
- Paraphilia
- Ira Levin's novel Sliver is a novel [i] by U.S. [i] author [i] Ira Levin [i] about the mysterious goings ...
- the John Landis movie National Lampoon's Animal House is a 1978 [i] comedy film [i] in which a misfit group o ...
- the Porky's is a 1982 [i] 20th Century Fox [i] movie about the sexual escapades of teenagers at a 1950s [i] ...
movie series - the Voyeur video game series
- the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho is a 1959 [i] novel [i] by Robert Bloch [i]. ...
- Upskirt
- Downblouse
- Changeroom
- Secret photography
Sexual criminals
External links
