Creep Shots Teens Are Sharing on Tumblr

Tumblr users have taken to sharing, uploading and trading so-called creepshots – close-up photographs taken of women without their consent – known as creepshots. The problem has become so pervasive that just typing “creepshots” into its search function yields hundreds of results; just typing the term into Google returns over 70 Tumblr blogs dedicated solely to this topic; many of these also host “upskirt” photos or videos which aim their camera upwards so as to look up skirts; most girls pictured appear to be young adults or teenagers compared to what would normally be expected in real life.

One particularly disturbing example was when an otherwise-honest substitute teacher from Coweta County, Georgia was charged with taking and posting photos of his students to r/CreepShots on Reddit. Investigators believe he conducted a “sex drive”, sending nude texts and images to female students at his high school – leading him to face multiple charges including sexual offense against minors. Following his arrest and subsequent firing from his job, these multiple charges include sexual misconduct against minors.

Men who engage in illegal and intrusive behaviors for various reasons often do so for sexual gratification or power and dominance reasons, while other influences like society’s objectification of women and normalization of voyeuristic behavior play a part. No matter the motivation, even innocent upskirt pictures violate privacy and can have devastating psychological repercussions for their victims.