The latest term you need to add to your lexicon is "upskirting", the vile phenomenon of men using their mobile phone cameras to surreptitiously take photos up the skirts of women in public. Yes, it’s as disgusting and perverted as it sounds.
The subject has hit the news in the UK after new legislation was proposed to criminalise this disturbing act. Shockingly, there is currently nothing the UK police can do if someone is found to be upskirting.
Of course the violation of upskirting is immense, not to mention the potential circulation of such highly intimate images. But UK law permits photos of anything in public – and upskirting victims are in a public space. In addition, since no one else is affected by the photo, it is not considered an offence of "public nuisance". And because she is outside her own home, that is to say not in her private domain in physical terms, upskirting is not considered voyeurism.
Private space has always been defined physically. But the appalling phenomemon of upskirting, and the way that laws around physical boundaries fail to give women basic protections, should push us to re-think how we define the private sphere.
In fact, I would argue that redefining the private space, to relate it to the person rather than the physical environment, ought to become one of the most pressing issues for women’s rights.
The issue of space and bodily autonomy is important and urgent. Establishing the boundaries of female privacy with physical walls has not always provided the intended protection, nor the full and safe participation in public life that women – and society – deserve. But most of all the boundaries do not give women their due respect.
This has been brutally transparent in many of the male responses to the #MeToo movement. They asked why women don't have a sense of humour or an enjoyment of the good old fashioned banter. Men said they will need to be taught about the boundaries of respectful behaviour, as though they were animals in need of house-training.
We often see something similar in the responses to women in some traditionalist countries and societies when they emerge into the public space. Women are abused and bullied, told if they are attacked that they were asking for it by being in the public space.
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Read more from Shelina Janmohamed:
The world can be a frightening place, but don't lose sight of your hope this Eid
Grenfell Tower is a monument to the tragic inequalities of modern Britain
Denying the discrimination of British Muslims is its own twisted form of Islamophobia
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In some places women are not permitted at all in some public spaces or are forced to anonymise themselves. Often they are ejected with the argument that they need to be in a physically private space.
Women then try to reclaim the public space for themselves, but are always told they need to be vigilant about those who seek to exclude or intimidate them. Many men feel they have rights over women in the public sphere and there is often no legal redress allowing women to push back.
But when we redefine privacy as belonging to the person, not the physical space, then these prohibitions and threats melt away.
Personally I feel it first hand as a woman in the West who wears the hijab. One of the most common arguments made by men for women removing their niqabs is based on a demand to see hair, as if they have a right to the hair, faces and bodies of women.
It is a demand often made of women in public, when as women we should have the right to draw our own privacy boundaries. It’s really not much of a leap to the entitlement that leads men to cross the boundaries into upskirting.
In too many places, a woman’s body is seen as public property. So when women are in public, we need a new mechanism to extend the private sphere and protect them.
While laws prohibiting disgusting acts like upskirting, and other infringements of a woman's body and respect, are needed, what we really need to address is the enduring question of what public and private space is. Indeed we need to rethink it beyond physical walls, and apply it to the person.
Ultimately we carry our private space with us. And the law, as well as social norms, should focus on protecting that.
Shelina Janmohamed is the author of Love in a Headscarf and Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World
Karwaan
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Director: Akarsh Khurana
Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar
Rating: 4/5
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%3Cp%3E-%20Diriyah%E2%80%99s%201.9km%20King%20Salman%20Boulevard%2C%20a%20Parisian%20Champs-Elysees-inspired%20avenue%2C%20is%20scheduled%20for%20completion%20in%202028%3Cbr%3E-%20The%20Royal%20Diriyah%20Opera%20House%20is%20expected%20to%20be%20completed%20in%20four%20years%3Cbr%3E-%20Diriyah%E2%80%99s%20first%20of%2042%20hotels%2C%20the%20Bab%20Samhan%20hotel%2C%20will%20open%20in%20the%20first%20quarter%20of%202024%3Cbr%3E-%20On%20completion%20in%202030%2C%20the%20Diriyah%20project%20is%20forecast%20to%20accommodate%20more%20than%20100%2C000%20people%3Cbr%3E-%20The%20%2463.2%20billion%20Diriyah%20project%20will%20contribute%20%247.2%20billion%20to%20the%20kingdom%E2%80%99s%20GDP%3Cbr%3E-%20It%20will%20create%20more%20than%20178%2C000%20jobs%20and%20aims%20to%20attract%20more%20than%2050%20million%20visits%20a%20year%3Cbr%3E-%20About%202%2C000%20people%20work%20for%20the%20Diriyah%20Company%2C%20with%20more%20than%2086%20per%20cent%20being%20Saudi%20citizens%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Keane on …
Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League bid: “They’re great. With the attacking force they have, for me, they’re certainly one of the favourites. You look at the teams left in it - they’re capable of scoring against anybody at any given time. Defensively they’ve been good, so I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t go on and win it.”
Mohamed Salah’s debut campaign at Anfield: “Unbelievable. He’s been phenomenal. You can name the front three, but for him on a personal level, he’s been unreal. He’s been great to watch and hopefully he can continue now until the end of the season - which I’m sure he will, because he’s been in fine form. He’s been incredible this season.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s instant impact at former club LA Galaxy: “Brilliant. It’s been a great start for him and for the club. They were crying out for another big name there. They were lacking that, for the prestige of LA Galaxy. And now they have one of the finest stars. I hope they can go win something this year.”
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Basquiat in Abu Dhabi
One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBERS
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat
Barbara J King, University of Chicago Press
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More on Turkey's Syria offence
The specs
Engine: 1.4-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 180hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 250Nm at 3,00rpm
Transmission: 5-speed sequential auto
Price: From Dh139,995
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
South and West: From a Notebook
Joan Didion
Fourth Estate
