Everyday Misogyny: on 'Upskirting' As Image-Based Sexual Abuse

Everyday Misogyny: On ‘Upskirting’ As Image-Based Sexual Abuse Chrissy Thompson Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5461-008 School of Social and Political Sciences UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE May 2019 This is to certify that I. the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD except where indicated in the Preface, II. due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used, III. the thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. Chrissy Thompson ii Preface This thesis contains content that has been published in the journal Feminist Media Studies. The article is entitled ‘A Media Archaeology of the Creepshot’ and was published in 2018. This is a co-authored publication where the second author, Dr. Mark Wood, contributed no more than 20% (see Appendix One for more information). I have included sections of the article in this thesis in Chapter Four in the sub-section ‘Creepshots and Folksonomies of Misogyny’ which can be found on pages 111-119. Further, material from Chapter Six of this thesis has been accepted for publication in the Journal Violence Against Women on 20 May 2019. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the funding received to complete this thesis including the Australian Post-Graduate Award (awarded in 2013), the John Barry Memorial Travelling Scholarship (awarded in 2016) and the Graduate Research in Arts Travel Schoalrship (awarded in 2018). iii Abstract The objectification of women by men is an enduring reality that has continued to evolve with the technics of everyday life. Premised on presumptions of sexual access to women, upskirting is one expression of such objectification, as well as the misogyny and violence that structures women’s everyday lives. In Victoria, 2007 the Summary Offences Amendment (Upskirting) Bill 2007 was enacted in response to a high-profile case of upskirting that occurred earlier that year. Amidst growing concern in other Australian states and territories over the ramifications of our rapidly expanding technological landscape, upskirting triggered significant media and political commentary between 2005-2014. In this thesis, I trace how upskirting became an issue of social concern in Australia prior to its criminalisation in Victoria and examine how it was framed in political and media discourses. This thesis grapples with the multiple manifestations of misogyny that structured understandings and responses to upskirting. I argue that we must re-focus our gaze and fray the familiar to unravel one key problem of the everyday: the obfuscation and denial of the ordinary men and their misogyny that is responsible for the systemic abuse of women. iv Acknowledgements I have often joked with friends that my twenties have been defined by my effort to give birth to my PhD thesis. In the time it would have taken for three baby elephants to consecutively gestate, instead I have produced 100,000 words (weighing roughly the same amount as three elephants when the emotional weight poured into its construction is considered). Admittedly, more than once throughout this process I have thought that a baby elephant would be easier to create than this thesis. Despite my carefully crafted timeline and my resolve to complete my doctorate by the time I was 25, as John Allen Saunders wrote in 1957 “life is what happens to us while we are making other plans”. Unsurprisingly, during the six years it has taken to complete this thesis, I have experienced the delights and disasters of early adulthood ranging from buying my moustache parrot Reggie and rescue puppy Bentley, to suddenly adjusting to life using a wheelchair. Such events have left me both richer and poorer (depending on the kind of currency I was required to expend), however all experiences have taught me something valuable, leaving me feeling wealthy in wisdom. This feeling of spiritual affluence was fortunate really, given how depressingly depleted my finances were at times, living on a meagre student stipend. This thesis would not have been written, if not for the support of a tribe of wonderful people in my life. I would first like to acknowledge John Fitzgerald’s distinctive contributions to earlier chapters of this project. To Dave McDonald – you agreed to come on board at the eleventh hour and have been generous with both your time and feedback. It is a difficult task to be thrown into a PhD that is already formed, where key decisions have already been made and the form and substance of the project is (mostly) determined. Your support in helping me create the project I envisioned at an incredibly stressful and demanding time in my candidature, left me feeling gifted with an academic Godsend in my hour of need. Thank you for helping me cross the line and for your support over these last 12 months, I am so grateful for your presence during this period. To my primary supervisor Alison Young who has accompanied me through this journey since 2013. Your understanding and support over the last six years and your encouragement to v never give up has helped ensure I completed within four years full-time equivalent candidature, despite failing health, changing life circumstances and wavering confidence in my own ability. As an undergraduate student, you were someone I looked up to with immense respect as a prolific, intelligent and kind academic. Having the opportunity to work with you has been one of the highlights of my PhD experience. Thank you for your guidance throughout this process and for tempering my enthusiasm with your sagely experience and advice. Your ability to keep me focussed would impress all of the teachers who repeatedly wrote “Chrissy would excel if only she would focus more” in my school report cards (except of course for the incredible Ibbi Fulu who always encouraged me to follow my passion and believed in me before I had learnt how to believe in myself). Without your encouragement and guidance, I would not have made it to the finish line. To my beautiful friends who have cheered me on for over half a decade: your enduring patience as I obsessively ranted about pictures of privates and other equally inappropriate dinner-table topics has not gone unnoticed. Thanks for still inviting me out to dinner anyway. Your support during the most challenging period of my life thus far has made all the difference. I am blessed to have received such unconditional love over the years. I must also acknowledge my enormous team of mates who doubled as my proof readers: Miles, Jenny, Gordon, Teagan, Kim, Rhiannon, Bron, Jo, Jack, Adam and Hannah – thank you for giving up hours of your time to help me improve this thesis. I’d like to especially thank the incredible Chantel and Beth who read the entire beast cover to cover all while pregnant or caring for tiny newborn infants. Little Max and Mini Tel have the most incredible mothers and I am so grateful that you have been part of my journey through this thesis and in life. To Mum, Dad and Adam; thanks for believing in me and helping me to become the person I am today. You taught me first how to fight with my fists up in the boxing ring and then how to fight for my dreams armed with resilience, determination and the trademark Thompson stubbornness, grit and determination. Your eternal love and encouragement throughout my life has pushed me on in times where I wanted to throw in the towel. Thanks for helping me knock out my thesis. To my other family – Robert, Linda, Amanda and Matt, thank you for helping me through the good times and the bad. There was nothing a well-timed Dad-joke or game of Cluedo could not ameliorate and I am grateful to you all for teaching me how to be still and how to “let it vi be”. To my Firestorm Dojos family and my sister Roz, you taught me as a twelve-year-old that “limitations you thought you had, don’t exist” and that I could do anything I set my mind to. You came through for me when I felt flat and my hope was punctured by the uncertainty of facing the unknown, as my body suddenly stopped working. For teaching me how to be a martial artist in the dojo and in life – in Ishoa, thank you for everything. To my partner in crime, my best friend and birthday thief Dr. Mark Wood. You were my carer for many months while I was in and out of hospital and nursed me back to health when I was ill in both body and spirit. You listened to me speak about my thesis, helped me nurture it for longer than anyone else and most of all you cheered me on louder than anyone, which is quite a feat for someone as softly spoken as you. You are a good sort – I think I’ll keep you. Lastly, to the men hiding in the shadows cast by a culture afflicted with misogyny, to the ordinary men who are perpetrators of everyday acts of gender-based violence, intimate intrusions and image-based sexual abuse. I see you. To every woman who has been a victim of image-based (and all other forms of) sexual abuse; this thesis is for you most of all and for a future where upskirting and sexual violence no longer exists. vii Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... v Contents ................................................................................................................................. viii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ x Chapter One: Explicating the Problems of the Everyday .......................................................... 1 Research Questions, Objectives and Significance .............................................................................................

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