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Sexual Health
15 mins read

The impact of non-contact sexual offences

When discussing sexual assault offences, non-contact crimes are often overlooked, despite reported cases of indecent exposure and voyeurism increasing every year. These crimes can have a huge impact on victims, and need to start facing the appropriate consequences.

Westminster saw the highest cases of indecent exposure & voyeurism in England & Wales in 2020, with 54 offences for every 100,000 in the borough. Incidentally 1 in 4 non – contact sexual offences have been proven to provide a gateway to escalated sexual assault. Despite these statistics, prosecution for the offences have been low and police handling poor quality. In this article we shall explore these failings in more detail, what change is beginning to be implemented & what support victims of sexual offences can receive from SASH & other avenues. When discussing non-contact sexual offences we shall be focusing mainly on voyeurism, indecent exposure & cyberflashing.

Gaining sexual arousal or gratification via non-consensually watching or recording someone during a private act i.e. someone coming out of their shower is known as voyeurism. Individuals who commit voyeuristic crimes are sometimes referred to as ‘peeping Toms’ by the media and in our society. Indecent exposure is exposing one’s genitals to scare or upset another person usually in a public setting. This is commonly known as ‘flashing’.

These two acts are criminalised under the Sexual Offences Act of 2003 with a perpetrator facing up to two years maximum in prison, as well as being placed on the sex offenders register. In some instances a sexual harm prevention order can be put in place via the court to prevent a person engaging in a particular activity. An example of this; a perpetrator of ‘upskirting’ might be prohibited from using a phone with a camera following their conviction to prevent reoffending.   

Cyberflashing is more commonly known as an unsolicited ‘dick pic’ where indecent exposure happens online or via text message. In some cases sharing apps like AirDrop or Nearby Share are used to send files to other people’s phones close by anonymously. In the age of social media, there is an epidemic of cyberflashing taking place. Notably, an OFSTED report in 2021 revealed “nearly 90% of girls, and nearly 50% of boys said being sent explicit pictures or videos of things they did not want to see happens a lot or sometimes to them or their peers”. Bumble researched in 2021 as well and found that 48% of their female users aged 18-24 had experienced cyberflashing. This offence has now been criminalised under the Online Safety Act where perpetrators can face up to a maximum of two years in prison as well.

For victims of these crimes there can be a long-term impact on their wellbeing including trauma and feelings of isolation and shame. Rape Crisis states “those who have been subjected to cyber flashing compare its impact to that of other sexual offences; for example, it can cause similar feelings of violation & sexual intrusion.” Victims of voyeurism live in fear of images or videos of themselves being posted publicly and many victims of indecent exposure report difficulty with public transport where online & offline exposure can often take place. Rape Crisis encourages that “victims & survivors of indecent exposure should never feel under any pressure to report what happened to them to the police. It is 100% their decision and they should always only ever do what feels right for them. Those who do choose to report their experience or anyone else are never just ‘making a fuss’. Reports of exposure should always be taken seriously”.

The fact of the matter is that this has not been the case. Under rape culture in our society, these offences are laughed off and trivialised.

Some headlines in relation to voyeurism from past few years include:

There are countless articles of police not handling reports adequately, victims being dismissed & perpetrators continuing on their behaviour, minimised to “silly little perverts”, diminishing their intent & harm caused. In 2020, only one in five cases of indecent exposure reported to the Met Police lead to punishment & only 14% of voyeurism ended up as a charge or court summons in 20-21. These low statistics may explain why a quarter of offences committed lead to escalating behaviours like sexual assault, rape and/or murder.

Claire Knights’ killer was arrested two days prior to her murder for upskirting. Libby Squire’s rapist and murderer had previously been reported for stalking, voyeurism & masturbation which had escalated over 18 months leading up to her death. One of the most infamous examples is Wayne Couzens. In the recent report released by Lady Elish Angiolini it states that he had been reported eight times previously for indecent exposure, three times six days before the murder of Sarah Everard, and two reports of cyberflashing, alongside a history of twenty years of misconduct and misogynistic violence. At each offense reporting there was an opportunity for the Met to put a stop to these perpetrators’ concerning patterns. One of Couzens’ previous victims summarises the failings of the police by her experience - “this indecent exposure incident was reported on the Sunday. I had no one contact me or ask for a statement. It was only after Sarah’s murder that I became involved. If he had been held accountable when we had reported the crime, we could have saved Sarah.” News articles are littered with dismissed victims of non-contact sexual offences and loved ones repeating if the killer and/or rapist had been reprimanded accordingly beforehand this might have never happened. Libby Squires’ mother who has been campaigning this year to change the law around non-contact sexual offences stated in parliament “if we stop men here then we can save women and girls from the trauma of rape."

Including the publication of the report, it does feel like societal and judicial change is starting to take place. Even before Couzens, upskirting & breastfeeding voyeurism had been criminalised under the 2019 Voyeurism Offences Act. TFL has had several poster campaigns on conduct including cyberflashing offences while travelling back in 2021. There has been more pressure for the Met police to consider how they approach non-contact sexual offences and conduct themselves overall. Most recently the Online Safety Act was passed in January, where cyberflashing and other online abuses are now criminal offences with sentences also lasting up to two years in jail. A perpetrator has recently been prosecuted receiving sixty six weeks in prison for cyberflashing a minor. Sefer Mani from CPS East of England was quoted saying “cyberflashing is a grotesque crime and the fact that we were able to deliver swift justice for the two victims show the new law is working. Everyone should feel safe wherever they are and not be subjected to receiving unwanted sexual image.”

The Act states it will prosecute where the intent is “to gain sexual gratification, or to cause alarm, distress or humiliation.” Critics argue that the law falls short here, providing a loophole for perpetrators to state that “it was just a joke” – allowing rape culture to continue to thrive. The act also states that it will force tech companies to be liable for their users’ safety on their platforms. How this will play out and be enforced remains to be seen.

Off the back of the Wayne Couzens report the Home Office has said it will launch a public campaign to encourage victims to come forward & commission research on flashing & re-offending. Home Secretary James Cleverly was pledged: “We will work with policing partners to understand the link between indecent exposure and an escalation in behaviour to ensure the right measures are in place to catch more criminals, earlier.” 

It will take a long time for trust to be rebuilt and the police to prove themselves through their actions, not just their words. While it is great to see new legislation in place, we need to see these laws actually being upheld. There is clear evidence that unmanaged offences perpetuate escalating sexual violence so we need to see victims being supported and reports taken seriously. There is a change in the air in our society with how we view these crimes. Hopefully soon we shall see the end of the “comical” flasher and the peeping Tom, and instead justice and support for their victims and a prevention of greater harm.

If you have been affected by any of the issues or crimes mentioned in this post or are seeking support & advice you can contact SASH. We provide free counselling, chaperoning to appointments and support with contacting police, reporting and liasing with other professional services for residents in the boroughs of Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham. You can make a self-referral here. 

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