It’s often said that cinema,
by it's very nature, is voyeuristic,
because film offers the audience a window
into the hidden lives of others.
Watching people’s stories on the big
and small screen can indeed be
fascinating and exhilarating.
But the act of looking can also feel
uncomfortable, invasive, even violating.
Underpinning these uncomfortable moments
we can find some alarming messages
about the role of consent.
To explain, let’s start here
in the normal bedroom of a normal boy
doing normal boy stuff.
Normal stuff
like spying on the girl next door.
Popular culture is filled
with scenes like this one
Scenes in which one character,
usually a man
spies on another character,
usually a woman
without that person’s knowledge or consent
To be clear, we're talking about secret
surveillance of a person
while they're alone
in various states of undress
or engaged in sexual activity.
This is invasive looking
that violates a person's
reasonable expectation of privacy.
In a staggering number of movies
and tv shows, this type of spying
isn't done by the villain.
It is instead perpetrated
by "nice guy" characters.
"Slow down, baby"
These are straight men, who are otherwise
presented as decent.
Or, at the very least,
mostly harmless.
"Hey! Hey!"
This media patern is so prevasive,
I thought it needed a name.
"He's a peeping Tom!"
So I call it "The harmless peeping Tom".
"You know, it occurs to me,
that you can see right into Donna's house
from my driveway."
"You don't say"
(off-screen laughter)
All of the boys on "That 70s Show"
for instance, casually participate
in spying behavior.
"No, Anette! Not the robe!"
(off-screen laughter)
"Quick, somebody yell
'pillow fight' in a girl voice"
But the character of Fez
is the quintessential example
of a harmless peeping Tom.
(off-screen laughter) - "Oh my god, Fez!"
"Nice honkers!"
(off-screen laughter)
"Get out of here!"
"Fez?"
There's a years long running gag
about how he's always spying on women.
Often hiding in their bedroom closets.
"Oh my god, did you see anything?"
"Not much, you should really think
about a nightlight."
And yet this pattern of intrusive behavior
is just considered a minor
nuisance on the show.
"Ouch"
"You okay?"
(camera click)
"Fez!"
(off-screen laughter)
"With this, you can see
through a lady's clothes"
(off-screen laughter)
"Okay, Jackie, prepare to be ogled"
Fez even ends up
in a romantic relationship
with one of the women
he's spied on.
Over 8 seasons of prime time television.
Scenes in which boys secretly spy on girls
were a staple of so called
"teen sex comedies".
In the late 1970s and early 80s.
But the media pattern didn't begin or end
with Animal House, Porky's
or Revenge of the Nerds.
"Oh! Yeah!"
Alfred Hitchcock was famously obsessed
with voyeurism.
And included peeping scenes
in several of his most notable films.
Since then, we've seen
Harmless Peeping Toms pop up
in practically every genre.
From action movies to horror films.
From romantic dramas
to science fiction adventures.
And it's not uncommon for video games
to present players with interactive
peeping opportunities.
"Look at this, come here"
"There's a naked woman across the street"
"Where?"
"Second floor from the top
see the window on the left"
"Wow"
The trope has also been a mainstay
on TV sitcoms.
"Oh my God, that's Rachel naked!"
Usually as a one-off gag
in a handful of episodes.
"Would you have opened the door
if you knew it was me?"
"Not since I found out
the teddy bear you gave me
had a webcam in it!"
While we may typically think
of peeping Toms as a stranger
hiding in the bushes,
spying can take many different forms.
"Did I miss anything?"
"Oh my God"
"Oh!"
"Oh, thank you, God, for this wonderful,
wonderful day"
Occasionally, spying is presented
as a part of man's job.
Like a cop on a stakeout.
"Oh, wow, oh yeah"
But in many of those scenarios,
the Harmless Peeping Tom trope
still applies.
"To protect and to serve"
"Ooh, ooh, ohh, I love my job so much, oh"
In espionage themed media,
the guy might have access
to high-tech spying gadgets.
"Nine different enhanced visions modes
every little boy's dream:
the penetrating mode"
"And would you look at that"
In superhero stories
or supernatural plot lines
the guy's powers may be used
as a way to gain access
to a woman's body.
(woman screams)
"And He saw, that it was good"
Superman, for example
is often upheld as a paragon of good
decent manhood
and yet even he steals a quick peek
from time to time.
Harmless Peeping Toms
aren't always the hero.
But, they're not the villain either.
"I wind up seeing a lot more of Ava
than I bargained for"
Even if the protagonist has, let's say
questionable morals
or is involved
in other criminal activities
the spying itself isn't framed as a strike
against his character.
And critically
the audience is still meant
to indentify with HIM as he's peeping.
"What?"
It's not unusual
for invasions of privacy
to be framed as endearing.
"Excuse me?"
"Oh!"
"I think you're in my bath..."
"Close your eyes!"
or just the innocuous behavior
of a guy with a crush.
Even when peeping is called out
as pathetic, annoying or a little creepy
"It was an accident."
"You're an asshole!"
his actions are, more often than not,
quickly forgiven and forgotten.
A good way to illustrate the deeper
problem here can be found in the
"no peeking" plot cliché.
"How did you see it?
You said you wouldn't look!"
"Sorry, as I told you the hero
always peeks."
The set up is a familar one: a woman
needs to change clothes for some reason.
But her guy friend is standing right there
"You're not bothering me."
So naturally she asks him to turn around
or close his eyes while she undresses.
"Would you please turn around?"
"Why?"
"Just turn around."
"Just look,
look over there for a second."
"Yeah."
"Just turn around and look at the
waterfalls Skippy all right, please?"
"Fine."
"Stay in guard, no peeking."
Does our protagonist respects her wishes?
Of course not.
"Don't look!"
"I said your eyes have to go over there!"
Most of the time, he peeks anyway
"Turn around!"
"Now!"
"Turn around."
and there are rarely any consequences
for violating her trust.
In fact his trangression
is likely to be rewarded.
Now sometimes the women character will
explicitely ask not to be looked at,
while in other examples it's just implied
that the guy shouldn't be staring.
It's incredibly rare to see a man who,
given the opportunity, doesn't peek.
"Don't look."
"Okay."
If it’s a romantic story, the transgression is often presented as a sign that he’s attracted to her.
In reality though,
if a man demonstrates a deliberate disregard for consent or women’s boundaries
that should be a major major red flag.
"Drop dead, dirtbag."
Even though Invasive spying is often considered just a nuisance crime by law enforcement,
being spied-on isn’t a minor inconvenience for the victims
"Hello"
it can cause real lasting emotional harm.
"Someone there?"
"That's it, I can almost see it."
Sometimes peeping scenes are filmed in a family-friendly way
"There she is."
while in other media it can be much more explicit.
In fact throughout this video essay
I’ve had to use a lot of creative editing techniques and strategic blurring
just to make the footage appropriate for YouTube.
"Oh, you imp. You've got nudity in there!"
Despite what some conservative groups would have you believe,
the problem here is not the depiction of sex or nudity on-screen.
Depending on how it’s framed, sex and nudity can be represented in all kinds of ways.
"Should be fine."
The real issues with the “Harmless” Peeping Tom trope
stems from the lack of consent
between the characters in the story
and how those violations are framed as “no big deal.”
"Did you see me change out of my clothes by the Jacuzzi?"
"I thought that you were catatonic."
There’s a common misconception that voyeurism is, by definition, looking without permission.
But that is not true.
Voyeurism can, and I’d argue should, be a consensual act.
It is, of course, possible to film scenes, even voyeuristic ones,
where characters look at each other in consensual ways.
"Steve..."
But cinematic depictions of consensual gazing
are not anywhere near as prevalent as scenes where permission has not been granted.
Up until this point, we’ve been discussing the perspective of characters on-scene
but there’s another critical perspective we haven’t yet considered.
And that is the perspective of the camera.
Let’s return for a moment to that “normal” boys bedroom from earlier.
Although, it’s not a “normal” bedroom, is it?
It’s really a movie set.
And that’s not really a “normal” boy either,
that’s an actor working from a script.
In fact, everything we see here is a deliberate choice by the filmmakers.
The woman is being put on display by the director
who is careful to position her body so the protagonist can get a good look.
But the shots are also designed so the audience gets to peek along with him.
"Mr. Bishop, do you mind if I take a look?"
"Carl..."
This then makes the viewer complicit.
We are made to vicariously participate in the act of non-consensual looking.
"Really, 007?"
This is true, incidentally, even when the character doing the peeping
is clearly meant to be a creep.
There’s another important conversation to be had about what film theorist Laura Mulvey called
“the male gaze”
especially as it relates to how the camera moves and frames women’s bodies in a sexualized way
independent of the protagonist’s point of view.
But for our purposes here, we’re mostly focusing on the characters in the story.
The audience for movies is, of course, made up of people of all genders,
but the male character’s perspective is the one we are sharing
and therefore it’s his lurid excitement we are meant to identify with.
Just to reiterate, narratively speaking, these women don’t know they’re being watched
and therefore haven’t given consent.
Not to put too fine a point on it,
but the reason these scenes are supposed to be titillating to the viewer
is precisely because the looking is being done without permission.
"It's like we're seeing something we're not supposed to be seeing
which is kind of why it makes it so f***ing hot."
All the actors involved in these productions have, presumably,
agreed to be represented in the ways we see on-screen,
but fictional representations can still help normalize non-consensual behavior.
"Good afternoon!"
It’s worth quickly noting the particular type of actress
that filmmakers like to cast as the object of men’s voyeuristic attention.
Usually she’s young, thin, white, and conventionally attractive.
It’s such a well established pattern in Hollywood
that whenever the victim differs from that very specific expectation,
"Gotcha!"
the scene is used as a gross-out punchline
"A man!"
or a transphobic joke.
"That dude looks like a lady."
"Hey, wow! Look in that window!"
Scenes where boys surreptitiously spy on girls or women
are especially common in coming-of-age stories.
In these type of narratives spying is often presented as a rite-of-passage,
"Holy Christ!"
as just an inevitable part of young men’s sexual awakening.
The boys may be initially presented
as shy, awkward, or cowardly where women are concerned.
And it’s through their peeping behavior that they’re able to gain self-confidence.
According to the visual language of cinema,
spying on girls is a formative experience for boys,
so much so that it takes on an almost spiritual significance.
In this way the transition from boyhood into manhood
is built on a violation of women’s bodies.
"She was really deep in thought because she left herself unguarded a few times,
and I got to see halfway up her thighs that led up to the golden palace of the Himalayas."
Sometimes the boys are presented as melancholy loners,
but in other scenarios peeping is framed as a social activity.
" Her hands are moving down." "I gotta see this!"
The act of objectifying women
then becomes a bonding experience for young men.
An experience that also reinforces their shared sense of male dominance.
"Bag it and spank it, boys."
"Shit, get down!"
Now, don’t get me wrong, sexual curiosity is completely normal,
however non-consensual behavior
should never be confused for healthy sexual exploration.
The default should always be an expectation of privacy.
"Dude, I'm changing."
"Ah, sorry!"
In John Berger’s 1972 TV series “Ways of Seeing”
he observes that the act of looking isn’t passive.
It’s active.
Men dream of women,
women dream of themselves being dreamt of.
Men look at women,
women watch themselves being looked at
I don’t want to deny the crucial part that seeing plays in sexuality,
but there’s a great difference in being seen,
as oneself naked, or being seen by another in that way,
and a body being put on display.
Berger was talking about society as reflected in European oil paintings,
but the observation could just as easily be applied to cinema.
The male characters are active and fully dressed,
while the women are passive and exposed,
unprepared to be seen, and therefore framed as vulnerable.
This sets up an automatic power dynamic wherein the man has the upper-hand.
The message these scenarios send to women and girls
is that being spied on should be taken as a compliment,
"So you were watching me."
"But for how long? Just tonight?"
"A week, two weeks since I moved in?"
because men’s sexual attention is always supposed to be flattering,
regardless of whether or not those feelings are reciprocated.
"That's either the creepiest
or the sweetest thing I have ever heard."
In her essay “Intrusions” author Melissa Febos explains that
"Just as these productions encourage men to believe that stalking and peeping are acceptable forms of courtship,
likely to resolve in a love match,
so do they prescribe to women a desire to be the object of such behavior.”
"Think maybe I ought to pull this curtain.
There seems to someone staring at you from across the court."
"Oh, no. Don't do that.
My girlfriend and I, we never pull the curtain."
"We just have a ball with him."
In the movies and tv shows we’ve been discussing
it’s not uncommon for the woman who is being sped on
to indicate to the audience that she secretly enjoys this violation.
The underlying implication is clear,
to be desired by men
is what gives women value.
"Well, I think you should call the police!"
"Oh, no! That would spoil everything."
"After all, he's been so patient,
it only seems fair.
That dangerous message is
compounded by another idea baked into these scenes:
that when it comes to sexual desire, men and boys “just can’t control themselves.”
As if men are compelled by some invisible force of nature
to infringe upon women’s bodies.
The myth is not true, of course.
Men and boys can in fact control their urges.
"Hold up!"
Still, media reinforces the myth that
“men aren’t responsible for their own actions,”
occasionally by transforming the peeping tom
into a hapless victim of the woman’s seductive trap.
Here’s Melissa Febos again from her essay “Intrusions”
“It is also a narrative that exonerates men.
The more plausible it seems that women are always performing,
the less indictable the watching.”
"Next thing you know, she starts deliberately undressing
in front of the window, with the lights on."
"It's like she knew I was watching her."
It should be ludicrous on its face
to blame women for men’s illicit spying
but movies consistently leave us with the impression
that it’s the woman’s fault for allowing herself to be seen,
even when undressing in the privacy of her own home.
"Oh, god. You saw me?"
"You weren't trying to entice me with your nakedness?"
"No, no!
And you actually thought I wanted to have sex with you?"
Everything we’ve been discussing in this video
is part of a larger culture of male entitlement.
Too many men in our society have been taught
that women’s bodies should always be available to them.
Available to be evaluated, to be judged, to be compared,
and to be used as fuel in their personal fantasies.
"I believe I'm going to think about her before I go to sleep tonight."
"Anybody thinks about her, it's gonna be me."
By this twisted logic,
any woman who chooses not to put herself on display
is then taking away men’s “right to look.”
"Oh, come on. Don't go in the other room!
Oh, man."
At the end of the day,
the “Harmless” Peeping Tom trope is anything but harmless,
because it works to reinforce that sense of entitlement
by telling us again and again that
“nice guys” deserve access to women’s bodies.
"Did you sneak a peek at my goods?"
"I wouldn't be much of a hero if I did."
"Yeah, but it's okay if you peeked a little."
"You deserve a peek for all the good stuff you do."
And that therefore permission isn’t strictly necessary.
"Better view of my room that I thought."
"I've never seen you naked."
"It's too bad."
"I've got a great body."
"Turn around. Turn!"
"You're just a man, like all the others."
In recent years we have seen a rise in gender-flipped variations of the trope.
While these spying moments do invert the expected subject/object dynamics,
simply switching-up the genders where non-consensual behavior is concerned,
does not magically fix the problem.
Because it still reinforces that worldview
where respecting someone’s wishes in regards to their own body isn’t important.
As the old saying goes,
two wrongs do not make a right.
Learning about consent as it relates to looking, and not just touching, is essential,
"Oh, my god."
"What?"
especially given the reality of social media
and the growing problem of intimate images shared without persimmon.
"I can have this?"
"Yes. It's for you."
"Because you're the only man I ever want to gaze upon my body."
In today’s digital world, the private photos or videos of women
can be a social currency among boys and men.
"A picture's worth a thousand words."
A currency that can grant a guy status among his peers
"That's hot!"
by providing evidence of a woman’s submission to his sexual desire.
"It's not looking good, Tom."
"I just sent it to one other guy, because
he didn't believe that I'd had sex with Ruby."
Again we see how the act of exposing women’s bodies, without permission,
becomes a way for men to bond with each other
over their shared sense of male entertainment.
TV shows like Euphoria, Sex Education, and Stargirl
have all attempted to address the issue of unauthorized image sharing.
Unfortunately some TV writers just can’t resist adding a big plot twist
wherein it turns out the culprit is a “mean girl”
rather than the far more common situation in real-life
where the culprit is a current or ex-romantic partner.
"Joseph Lyman showed us the picture you gave him."
"What?"
"Oh, your nude self portrait.
He showed it to everyone."
"The whole town's seen it."
"The freaking mayor saw it."
The series Normal People
includes a scene of a guy showing off a naked picture of his girlfriend.
Rather than being impressed, the protagonist responds by saying it’s not okay.
"You do not think it's a bit f***ed up,
showing pictures of your girfriend like that?"
The moment is brief but it is notable for two reasons:
first it’s a rare example of
a man calling out another guy for non-consensual behavior,
and second because the producers chose not to show that image to the audience.
Even in media about how it’s wrong to share private images
media makers will often ensure that the audience gets a clear view of the photos or video in question.
The inclusion of these shots are unnecessary
and again make the viewers complicit in non-consensual looking.
Just as peeping is never the fault of the person who’s being spied on,
it’s also never the fault of the people whose intimate images are distributed without their permission.
The blame should rest entirely
with those sharing or looking without consent.
"You never should've sent him those."
"He never should've shared them."
It’s still very rare to see male characters in media who honor women’s privacy.
It’s even more rare to see men or boys intervening
to prevent their peers from non-consensual looking
but those are the types of representations that we need.
"All right, closing."
If we are to build a culture of affirmative and enthusiastic consent
it’s critical to understanding the ethics of looking.
I hope you enjoyed that video.
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