During National Stalking Awareness Week, as police implement new protocols to protect victims, two friends relate their stories
When Maddy Laing and Phoebe Collin strolled along a busy Manchester street in April of last year, they had no idea that a camera was filming them. They were wearing colourful cycling shorts on a bright spring day, and they had no idea that someone was secretly recording their every move with a camera positioned below their waist.
Collin said, “That’s terrible,” as Laing rerun the video. “You can see them zooming in and out on our buttocks.”
The high-definition video had been bravely recorded. They were mainly recording from behind and then moving around to capture their faces, which are easily recognised, even though it felt like they were just a metre or two away.
They experienced violation. “We were unaware that they were recording,” Laing claimed. “We just kept wondering: ‘How did we not see them?'”
The way they found the video was much more concerning.
A link to the video was included in an Instagram message that Laing got from an unidentified sender. “Hi, is this you?” the message inquired. Later, the sender claimed to have discovered the video online and got in touch with Collin in a similar way.
Laing clarified, “What scared us was that they found us on social media.” “We still don’t know who they are.”
Laing and Collin called the police and reported the event, but nothing came of it.
They claimed that there was little they could do. They only told us to let them know if it occurs once more,” Collin remarked.
This is only one of several videos that nearly exclusively feature women in skimpy or tight clothing that were taken in UK towns and cities without the subjects’ permission.
Police on Friday urged women to report such events in light of the growing attention being paid to this problem. They emphasised the significance of getting information and intelligence directly from victims and communities.
What makes Laing and Collin’s experience particularly unsettling for women in Manchester on a Saturday night is that it is far from uncommon.
Ella Gobson, a promoter at the popular venue Printworks, recounted an incident from the previous weekend where a man noticed another man filming his girlfriend with a camera.
“It was just one guy by himself, pretending to film the ceiling. Her boyfriend noticed and asked, ‘Why are you filming her?'”
Ultimately, the man compelled him to delete the videos. “It’s a common occurrence,” she remarked.
Women were particularly aware of this behaviour on Deansgate, where a large number of the covert footage are still available on popular social media platforms.
“I was contemplating that prior to my arrival, as I was preparing,” Coventry resident Faye Lambie recalled, while out honouring her friend Abbie Rose’s 24th birthday. “It’s appalling.”
Rose added, “I was apprehensive about coming here. It’s very terrible. All you want is to unwind without feeling objectified or abused.”
Violet Wray, a student, expressed her concern while on a night out with friends Mia Boyle and Sylvia Zacharczyk, stating that if she were filmed, it would be “on the internet forever.”
“It’s a violation of privacy. It makes you not want to go out,” Zacharczyk added.
Sisters Aya, Fatima, and Jude Mohammed, along with their cousin Athar Ahmed, noted that while filming on a public street is not illegal, it was evident that the individuals making the videos were deliberately seeking to “victimize” women.
Fatima remarked, “He has a preconceived notion and he’s choosing a specific moment to depict women in a certain way, such as when they’re intoxicated or alone. It leaves women vulnerable – you don’t know if a woman might be hiding from someone.”
“There’s no justification,” said Ahmed.
Though they didn’t think the police could handle a problem this broad, the group thought speaking up was a necessary part of the answer. “A shift in society is necessary,” Fatima said.
According to Aya, “If your friends are sharing these videos, you should publicly condemn them.”
“It’s like the transit slogan -‘see it, say it, sorted,” Ahmed added.
