Gina Martin | |
|---|---|
 Martin in 2019 | |
| Occupation | Activist |
| Years active | 2017–present |
| Movement | Criminalising of upskirting |
| Awards |
|
Gina Martin is a British political activist and author. She is known for her case to make upskirting illegal in England and Wales, which resulted in the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019. Martin also authored a book, Be the Change: A Toolkit for the Activist in You, and rejected a nomination for an award of an Order of the British Empire in 2020.
In June 2017, Martin was attending the British Summer Time Festival in Hyde Park when she discovered that a man had taken a picture of her underwear from under her skirt. [2] She took his phone to the police, who told her the act wasn't illegal and therefore they couldn't take any action. [1] After posting about the incident on Facebook, her story went viral and an online petition was started to reopen her case. The petition received more than 100,000 signatures, and Martin began campaigning to change the law with pro-bono representation from associate lawyer Ryan Whelan of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP. [3] [4] [5] [6] Martin campaigned while working a full-time job, [7] and received a large amount of online harassment, including hundreds of rape threats. [2] [1]
In March 2018, along with Gina and Ryan, MP Wera Hobhouse tabled a Private Members Bill to make upskirting a criminal offence. [8] The bill was blocked on second reading by Conservative MP Christopher Chope. [9] In response, The Ministry of Justice backed the anti-upskirting campaign by tabling a Government bill that was eventually approved by the House of Lords in February 2019 and the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 came into force in April the same year. [10] [11]
Since her campaign, Martin has written for Grazia, The World Economic Forum, The Guardian, Glamour, and The Daily Telegraph, [12] and in June 2019 published a book on activism titled Be the Change: A Toolkit for the Activist in You. [12] [13] Martin is also an ambassador for UN Women. [14] She hosts a radio show called Gina's Gamechangers on BBC Radio 5 Live, [14] and the podcast Might Delete Later with her sister Stevie Martin. [15]
In 2019, Martin was included in the BBC's 100 Women list, and the Time 100 Next list as well as Stylist Remarkable Women Gamechanger Award and Disruptor of the Year at the Cosmopolitan Magazine Influencer Awards. [16] [17] [18] [19]
Martin worked pro-bono for model Nyome Nicholas-Williams to campaign against Instagram's nudity policy after the platform was accused of censorship for deleting images of Nicholas-Williams from the site while retaining similar images of white women, resulting in an official change to their nudity policy on breast squeezing. [20]
Martin rejected an offer to be nominated for an Order of the British Empire in 2020, writing on Twitter that it would be "deeply hypocritical" to accept the honour "while continuing to be vocal in my commitment to anti-racism and understanding the deep and unsettling race issues the British empire has built into the foundation of our country and many others” [21] [ non-primary source needed ] and cited concerns about the "violence and oppression" of the British Empire. [22]
Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of watching other people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions of a private nature.
Upskirting or upskirt photography is the practice of taking photographs or videos under a person's skirt or kilt, capturing an image or video of the crotch area, showing underwear such as panties, and sometimes genitalia. An "upskirt" is a photograph, video, or illustration which incorporates such an image, although the term may also be used to refer to the area of the body inside a skirt, usually from below and while being worn.
Indecent exposure is the deliberate public exposure by a person of a portion of their body in a manner contrary to local standards of appropriate behavior. Laws and social attitudes regarding indecent exposure vary significantly in different countries. It ranges from outright prohibition of the exposure of any body parts other than the hands or face to prohibition of exposure of certain body parts, such as the genital area, buttocks or breasts.
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Definitions and restrictions on pornography vary across jurisdictions. The production, distribution, and possession of pornographic films, photographs, and similar material are activities that are legal in many but not all countries, providing that any specific people featured in the material have consented to being included and are above a certain age. Various other restrictions often apply as well. The minimum age requirement for performers is most typically 18 years.
Public sex is sexual activity that takes place in a public context. It refers to one or more persons performing a sex act in a public place, or in a private place that can be viewed from a public place.
Clothing laws vary considerably around the world. In most countries, there are no laws which prescribe what clothing is required to be worn. However, the community standards of clothing are set indirectly by way of prosecution of those who wear something that is not socially approved. Those people who wear insufficient clothing can be prosecuted in many countries under various offences termed indecent exposure, public indecency, nudity or other descriptions. Generally, these offences do not themselves define what is and what is not acceptable clothing to constitute the offence, and leave it to a judge to determine in each case.
Nudity is sometimes used as a tactic during a protest to attract media and public attention to a cause, and sometimes promotion of public nudity is itself the objective of a nude protest. The practice was first documented in the 1650s with Quakers "naked as a sign" practice. Later the tactic was used by svobodniki in Canada in 1903, and photographs of their nude protests have been published. The tactic has been used by other groups later in the century, especially after the 1960s. Like public nudity in general, the cultural and legal acceptance of nudity as a tactic in protest also varies around the world. Some opponents of any public nudity claim that it is indecent, especially when it can be viewed by children; while others argue that it is a legitimate form of expression covered by the right to free speech.
Yasmin Qureshi is a Pakistan-born, British politician and barrister is an incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolton South and Walkden since July 2024. Previously she served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolton South East between from 2010 until 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she headed the criminal legal section of the UN Mission in Kosovo, where she was later Judicial Administration Department Director.
Outraging public decency is a common law offence in England and Wales, Hong Kong and the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria.
Revenge porn is the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their consent, with the punitive intention to create public humiliation or character assassination out of revenge against the victim. The material may have been made by an ex-partner from an intimate relationship with the knowledge and consent of the subject at the time, or it may have been made without their knowledge. The subject may have experienced sexual violence during the recording of the material, in some cases facilitated by psychoactive chemicals such as date rape drugs which also cause a reduced sense of pain and involvement in the sexual act, dissociative effects and amnesia.
Clare Mary Smith McGlynn is a Professor of Law at Durham University in the UK. She specialises in the legal regulation of pornography, image-based sexual abuse, cyberflashing, online abuse, violence against women, and gender equality in the legal profession. In 2020, she was appointed an Honorary KC in recognition of her work on women's equality in the legal profession and shaping new criminal laws on extreme pornography and image-based sexual abuse. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Lund University, Sweden, in 2018 in recognition of the international impact of her research on sexual violence and she is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. She is a member of the UK Parliament's Independent Expert Panel hearing appeals in cases of sexual misconduct, bullying and harassment against MPs. She has given evidence before Scottish, Northern Irish and UK Parliaments on how to reform laws on sexual violence and online abuse, as well as speaking to policy audiences across Europe, Asia and Australia. In November 2019, she was invited to South Korea to share international best practice in supporting victims of image-based sexual abuse and she has worked with Facebook, TikTok and Google to support their policies on non-consensual intimate images.
"Alan Turing law" is an informal term for the law in the United Kingdom, contained in the Policing and Crime Act 2017, which serves as an amnesty law to pardon men who were cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts. The provision is named after Alan Turing, the World War II codebreaker and computing pioneer, who was convicted of gross indecency in 1952. Turing received a royal pardon posthumously in 2013. The law applies in England and Wales.
Wera Benedicta Hobhouse is a British-German Liberal Democrat politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bath since 2017.
Munroe Bergdorf is an English model and activist. She has walked several catwalks for brands including Gypsy Sport at both London and NYC Fashion Weeks. Bergdorf was the first transgender model in the UK for L'Oréal, but was dropped within weeks after a racial row. In February 2018, she was appointed as an LGBT adviser to the Labour Party, but resigned the following month. Bergdorf appeared in the Channel 4 documentary What Makes a Woman, which aired in May 2018.
Cyberflashing involves sending obscene pictures to strangers online, often done through Bluetooth or AirDrop transfers between devices.
The Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amends the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to make upskirting a specific offence of voyeurism. The Act came into force on 12 April 2019.
Sophia Kianni is an Iranian-American social entrepreneur and climate activist. She is the founder and president of Climate Cardinals, a nonprofit offering climate change information in multiple languages, serves on the EPA's National Youth Advisory Council, and as an advisor to the United Nations. She is the youngest United Nations advisor in US history.
Derek Andrew Ogg QC was a Scottish lawyer who, through the Historical Sexual Offences Pardons and Disregards Scotland Bill, campaigned for automatic pardons for gay and bisexual men with historical convictions of sexual offences that are no longer illegal in Scotland. In 1983 Ogg established the Scottish HIV and AIDS awareness charity Scottish AIDS Monitor.
Laila Woozeer is a British author, performer, musician, and activist. Woozeer's 2022 book, Not Quite White is a memoir described as "primarily focused on mixed-race identity and also looking at representation, structural racism, intergenerational trauma and interracial family relations." Woozeer has also written for Cosmopolitan, The Guardian, Eastern Eye, Metro, My London Shout Out UK and Marie Claire on race and identity. Woozeer is also a multi-instrumentalist who has worked in both theatre and musical theatre composing both original scores and soundtracks.