In July 2017, at a music festival in Hyde Park, London, a man took a photograph up her skirt without her consent. She grabbed his phone, saw the image, and took it straight to the police. They told her, gently, that there was nothing they could do — it wasn’t a specific criminal offence. Within days, the case was closed.
She went home and decided that answer was not good enough. With no lawyer, no funding, and no political connections, she launched a campaign to make upskirting a crime. Eighteen months later, she had changed the law for all of England and Wales.
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Martin’s power did not come from expertise. She had no legal degree, no seat in Parliament, no wealthy backers. What she had was a refusal to accept a bad answer and the stamina to keep asking the question long after most people would have given up. The expertise — the lawyer, the MP, the drafting — arrived because she kept going, not before.
Interesting story, but I have to assume the article was written entirely by AI. Short, choppy sentences, a heading for every paragraph, scant on details. It’s too bad, because I wanted to hear more about how she did it.
That was a great read; did not expect to be hit with a bucketful of nuance about the punitive nature of the judicial system.
I really appreciate your first comment - this Guardian article was even better than the OP story. Without your comment, I’m not sure I would have dug more into her today. Thanks.
Mad respect to her for seeing the need for solutions beyond the carceral.
So why hasn’t JK Rowling been charged yet?
Is this JK you’re talking about into upskirting? Because that’s a crime now.
Yes she posted upskirt pictures of a trans woman all over social media.
every time i think i have heard the worst i can hear about her, i hear something worse
Yep, and it was clearly done to silence the victim by way of sexual humiliation
Oh wow, I did not know that. She’s so spiteful. It really seems like she enjoys her maliciousness.
Because he (as his pen name uses male pronouns) is rich, and therefore can do what he wants.
Great can we make infant genital mutilation a crime too now
Not unless you have a degree in baby law
Babies and birds are basically the same thing, right? 🤷🏻
