Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions usually considered to be of a private nature. The term comes from the French voyeur which means “one who looks”. The dictionary defines it as the practice of obtaining sexual gratification by looking at sexual objects or acts, especially secretively.
The principal characteristic of voyeurism is that the voyeur does not normally interact directly with the subject of his/her interest, who is often unaware of being observed. The essence of voyeurism is the observing but may also involve the making of a secret photograph or video of the subject during an intimate activity.
It is in the news that recently that Jean-Paul Manoux, also known as J.P. Manoux, has been arrested on voyeurism charges in Toronto. He’s scheduled to appear before a judge on March 11.
J. P. Manoux is a well-known American actor living in Canada. He has acted in many movies; Minutemen, Transformers, Knocked up, Meet the Fockers, etc. The issue started when two women in their mid-twenties rented a condo from the actor. According to the Toronto Police Service, the women alerted them after they “discovered hidden cameras and video equipment connected to the internet.”
Police said in a statement that the actor has rented out this condo before and they “believe there may be other victims.”
Non-consensual voyeurism is a form of sexual abuse. When the interest in a particular subject is obsessive, the behavior may be described as stalking. Voyeurism is not a crime in common law. In common law countries it is only a crime if made so by legislation. In Canada where the incident occurred, voyeurism was not a crime until the case of Frey v. Fedoruk et al. arose in 1947. In that case, in 1950, the Supreme Court of Canada held that courts could not criminalize voyeurism by classifying it as a breach of the peace and that Parliament would have to specifically outlaw it.On November 1, 2005, this was done when section 162 was added to the Canadian Criminal Code, declaring voyeurism to be a sexual offense.
In the United Kingdom, Voyeurism is considered a sex crime. Non-consensual voyeurism became a criminal offence on May 1, 2004. In R v Turner (2006)All ER (D) 95 (Jan) the manager of a sports centre filmed 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. The Court of Appeal confirmed a sentence of nine months’ imprisonment to reflect the seriousness of the abuse of trust and the traumatic effect on the victims.
In the United States, video voyeurism is an offense in nine states and may require the convicted person to register as a sex offender.
I found this a very interesting issue. The world is changing and we as a people are changing also. This goes to show how the law moves with changing times. I hope you find this as interesting as I did. I wonder if our country has taken such into consideration.
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