#114 Gina Martin: On Changing The Law On Upskirting

Gina Martin is a writer and activist in London and currently campaigning to change the law around "upskirting", the act of someone taking a photo up someone's skirt.


Gina recently partnered with Refinery 29 UK and created the hashtag #stopskirtingtheissue. In a nutshell, Gina was watching The Killers perform at a music festival last summer, when two guys kept hitting on her and wouldn't take no for an answer. After this happened and after she told the police, she later learned that taking pictures up skirts is not legally classed as a sexual offence under UK law.


Taken from Refinery29UK: "Martin threw herself into research and found out that there is no specific legislation against upskirting. Upskirting is already illegal in Scotland after the law was changed by the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009. But, under the Sexual Offences Act 2003—a law which pertains to the whole UK—upskirting is not considered a sexual offence."


In this episode we discuss how to start a campaign from scratch, the power spreading the word on social media, small acts of activism and how the people around you really matter.


A favourite quote from this episode: “I can sound pushy, I can sound bossy, I can sound like I’m being cheeky, but at the end of the day I’m trying to change the law.”


If you were inspired by this episode PLEASE do sign the petition to make this illegal under the Sexual Offences Act of 2003: https://www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/takeaction/887/239/401/