FEATURE:
Feminist Icons
that the words ‘icon’ or ‘iconic’ get overused. In music journalism, it tends to be applied to so much! From outfits to songs to artists and albums through to venues, there is no way you can escape it. It is a bad habit of journalists like me to label everything iconic. Elevate artists to almost religious heights! However, in terms of definition, an icon is “a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration (great respect; reverence)”. I don’t think it is hyperbole or superlative to call artists and albums iconic. I mention it, as this feature is about feminism and those who fight for equality. I call these women iconic. I have highlighted Michelle Obama and Gloria Steinem. Even if Gina Martin might not consider herself to be as important as these amazing women, I would disagree. I have no hesitation in saying she is a modern-day feminist icon! At least a role model and vital voice. I first came across her work a couple of years ago. She released her book, “No Offence, But...”.: How to have difficult conversations for meaningful change. She was speaking with The Trouble Club alongside Charlie Craggs. She (Craggs) was speaking about her experiences as a trans woman. It was a wonderful discussion. Martin spoke so passionately about her book. One that people should get (“A practical, inspiring roadmap for changing the conversation on social justice issues. 'Not all men. I don't see colour. To play devil's advocate. Climate change is coming.' From the persistent to the insidious, too often, antagonistic responses threaten to distract and derail the most urgent conversations. Tackling twenty of the most enduring conversation-stoppers, No Offence, But... equips readers with the knowledge, tools and context to respond with confidence. Alongside other trailblazing writers, educators and advocates, acclaimed campaigner Gina Martin helps us to unpick these phrases, understand why they are harmful and feel empowered enough to change the conversation”).
PHOTO CREDIT: What Olivia Did
People may recognise her name but try and work out there they know it from. Before getting to a few interviews with Gina Martin, it is worth introducing in some background. This is someone who helped bring in a law that was long overdue. Making upskirting a criminal offence. Something that has affected so many women, it was a huge moment. This article explains more:
“In 2017, Gina and her sister attended British Summertime, a family-friendly daytime festival in London. At 5pm, in a crowd of over 60,000 people, they were standing next to a group of men who were overstepping the mark when interacting with Gina and her sister, including making jokes that then turned into more vulgar and sexual comments. To Gina’s horror, she then caught a glimpse of one of the group's phones and on it was a picture of her crotch.
Gina, after being physically grabbed by the man, bravely snatched the phone from the man and ran towards her nearest security point – whilst being chased by him. Gina then requested assistance from the Police; upon their arrival and to Gina’s surprise, they informed her that because she was wearing underwear, it wasn’t actually something that they could help with. She was then told that if she had chosen not to wear underwear, something could have been done about it because the photo would have been classed as a ‘Graphic Image’.
It is a categorical fact that Gina’s choice of clothing was not to blame for what happened to her; it was the perpetrator and the perpetrator alone. After hearing what the Police had to say and fed up with a victim-blaming narrative (that women should wear more clothes), Gina set about changing the way that voyeurism is seen and dealt with by the law.
Gina, charged by what happened at British Summertime, aimed to change the law around voyeurism, starting and spearheading a social media movement that grew rapidly. Gina’s campaign eventually resulted in a petition that amassed over 110,000 signatures, and after an 18-month battle to illegalise upskirting, she finally won The Voyeurism (Offences) Act, commonly known as the Upskirting Bill. The Voyeurism (Offences) Act was introduced on 21 June 2018 and came into force on 12 April 2019.
You can read more about it on the UK Government website and find exactly what is covered by the law We would also encourage you to check out our Know Violence campaign for Cambridgeshire constabulary about acts that might not be illegal but are still unacceptable”.
I would urge people to subscribe to Gina Martin’s Substack. I have really been inspired by her! To do more and to become a more active feminist. I still think that I am a little too performative and not active enough. In a radical or physical sense. I write a lot of about feminist women and address topics like sexual assault, gender inequality and discrimination through music, though I have not gone beyond that. In terms of going beyond social media and articles and making a difference. I think that Gina Martin is one of our most important feminist writers and thinkers. The first interview I want to include is from Glamour from 2022, where activists and friends Gina Martin and Ben Hurst talk about the importance of male allyship:
“Both almost immediately take aim at the current state of activism. It’s no secret that many view a lot of the noise online as performative, while these two deal in action, not pithy Instagram slogans.
Ben’s work at Beyond Equality means going to schools and universities, running workshops with young boys and men to actively deconstruct toxic masculinity, talk about mental health (suicide remains the leading cause of death for men under 45) and, in the process, discuss how to become better allies to women. Alongside Gina’s actual changing of the law, it’s no wonder they are a little dissatisfied with the ‘shouty’ tactics of a lot of shallow activism.
“I see it even with people who claim to be male allies,” Ben says. “Often men are just repeating what women say, but not turning around and thinking: ‘Yeah, but what can I do?’”
“I agree,” Gina says, grinning at her friend. “Plus, a lot of the time, all I see and hear is, ‘f**k the patriarchy’ and that’s great but… what do you do afterwards? When it comes to the next part, we need men.”
So how can men be good allies? Gina believes the answer lies in what Ben was suggesting the first time she heard him speak. “Sort your own stuff out,” she says. “Personally, I am exhausted having to constantly explain to men – even good men like my fiancé – why I am angry, why this is all so affecting. I feel like if men just went away and dealt with their own issues with the patriarchy, we may actually arrive at a similar place.”
“It’s definitely that,” Ben agrees. “Because the problem has been that, for years, women have shouldered the burden of ‘fixing’ sexism all alone and that’s just a lot of extra labour. If we are still asking them to do that now, it fails to tap into the power dynamic that’s at play. In the work I do, we’ve created space for men, by men, to try and help. There’s also important stuff that we need for women to be present for, but I think women should be able to opt into that, because why should we constantly be asking them to fix what isn’t a problem they caused?”
Ben has been involved in youth work ever since his dream of becoming a church leader was scuppered when he was kicked out for having sex. “That was super, super intense, but I came out having done a degree in youth work and theology, knowing I wanted to work with young people. That option of working in church, in ministry, being off the table, and thinking: ‘What am I going to do?’” He worked as a teacher and then for a sex education charity, which led him to pop into a Beyond Equality session. It blew his mind so much, he never left.
“You know what, I don’t think at the start this work for me was about creating a better, more equitable world for women,” he says, laughing as he adds how growing up with older sisters meant he was raised to think women were: “Way better than me in every way."
“I think that session looking at the constraints of our idea of manhood really made me think: this is the answer to the questions that I have about myself and my mental health and how I treat women in relation to that. Then at the end, they were like… ‘And that’s intersectional feminism.’” He mimes a mic drop.
Ben’s feminism is unquestionable, as is his willingness to learn – asking Gina what more men can be doing. She in turn wells up, remembering how keenly she sought male assistance at the time of her up-skirting. “I remember being like ‘Oh, I’ll make eye contact with everyone, because then they’ll help me,’” she says. “And I made eye contact with these two guys and I remember instantly thinking that they won’t do anything.”
“When they should be doing something!” Ben jumps in. “Men need to be more solutions-focused. I feel like if you’re an ally, your job is not just to recognise your privilege, but to use the power you have to dismantle it.”
Gina nods along and you can see that, even five years later, she still likes what Ben has to say”.
I want to head back to 2018 and a beautiful interview from What Olivia Did. They were compelled and awe-struck by Gina Martin’s #stopskirtingtheissue upskirting campaign and her devotion to her cause. One that not only affected and impacted her but countless other women. Anyone who has not discovered Gina Martin or read her work needs to do do. I do feel like there will be another great book from her. I am going to drop in some podcast episodes that she has been involved with. She had a podcast with comedian Stevie Martin, Might Delete Later. There is this incredible catalogue of work – from podcasts to the written word – that gives us a picture of this incredible activist, campaigner and feminist:
“Gina! So, thanks to the internets I was introduced to you, your eye for sweet style (THE GRID) and most importantly your amazing campaign #stopskirtingtheissue. For those that don’t already follow you, can you introduce yourself?
Of course! I’m Gina Martin and I’m a freelance writer and campaigner – I’m probably best known for banging it on about why upskirting should be a sexual offence and turning into a Goverment bill! I also am a big advocate of positivity and creativity.
And tell us a little more about your campaign- which has MADE IT THROUGH!! Such an enormous achievement which you must be so, so proud of…
YAAAAYYYY. It’s been a really tough journey and we’re not quite there yet but we’re incredibly close. Last year, at British Summertime Festival two guys who’s advances I’d rejected stuck their phone between my legs and took photos of my crotch. I saw the photo on one of their phones, grabbed it and ran to the police with the guy in tow. The police told me there wasn’t much they could do and I found out that upskirting isn’t a sexual offence in England & Wales. I began writing, lobbying and posting about my experience and launched the campaign in the media. Since then, my lawyer and I have been working with the Government, tabled a bill, had it blocked by Christopher Chope (DAMN IT!) and then tabled a new Government Bill which we are now seeing through the process (plus it can’t be objected too – woo!). It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever done personally and professionally but we’re almost there…!
How did you get started with putting the campaign together? It must have seemed like such a daunting task that must have felt impossible to know where to begin with!
It really did feel like so daunting at the start. I was basically doing media saying upskirting should be made a sexual offence and I suddenly thought ‘the law isn’t going to change from me complaining about it on the media, I have to do this the right way’. So I found an incredible lawyer by reaching out online and we put together a strategic plan, gained backing from law authorities, police commissioners etc and did all the work before even approaching Parliament. I deffo googled ‘how to change the law’ at the beginning though… turns out you have to work that out on your own!
Obviously, as with so many things online- you have made it look admirably easy (which it obviously hasn’t been). What has been the toughest challenge?
It’s so important that I keep supporters (not to mention women and girls who it’s happened to) positive that change will happen so social media is key, but it’s been overwhelming. The toughest moments have been the politics which is exhausting, and doing media when everything I say can be taken out of context. Being thrust into a world you don’t belong in, like politics, and trying to get your voice heard is incredibly tough – Ryan has been a godsend there. The online comments and trolling have been really hard too. I’m a magnet for slut-shaming and misogynists. But that’s okay. I have thicker skin now.
‘The best advice would to be to reach out to others and ask for help. Don’t do it all alone’
Hearing about your campaign and relentless energy and determination for it felt like something so selfless and admirable- what was it that made you want to power on and even put together something like this? What has been the greatest achievement through everything?
It was genuinely just the straw that broke the camels back. I was so over dealing with this stuff, brushing it off and thinking ‘we’ll that’s just part of life being a woman’, so I thought ‘this SHOULDN’T be part of life and instead of me saying “someone should change this!” I thought, well… why not me?’ So I started. Then the amount of messages from other victims just propelled me into this incredibly determined mindset.
My greatest achievement so far, I think, is just picking myself up and carrying on when I’ve wanted to pack it all in. I think I’ve realised I’m stronger than I thought I was.
I know so many women will be in awe of you, and putting a law to something that affects so many of us. What would you say to another girl wanting to go ahead and make change? How did you go about it- and what steps would you give to another girl wanting to take heed from your amazing work?
The best advice would to be to reach out to others and ask for help. Don’t do it all alone. You can find everyone on the internet – ALL the information you need is there. I found the current law, Scotland’s bill to make upskirting a sex offence from 2009, a lawyer and every media contact I needed from googling. And also, send emails. Thousands of them. Plus, an old fashioned letter to people of importance is taken notice way more than an email. Remember that!”.
I am going to wrap things up soon. There are a couple of other interviews I am coming to before that. The Guardian interviewed Gina Martin in 2023. Around the time of the release of "No Offence, But...". Following her on social media and reading her Substack, this is someone who I am always learning from. Rather than her purely being about upskirting and pigeonholing her as this one thing, Martin is much more than that. Someone who everyone should know and follow. I am probably not doing her full justice here - though I was keen to write about her and point people in her direction:
“Since I was 26 I have been known as “the upskirting girl”. I still receive emails from those who’ve used the law and get stopped on the street by people thanking me. Sometimes they pass me a note with their story hastily jotted down, because repeating it will make what’s happened to them feel too real. I cherish these interactions and I’m proud that my political activism has had a lasting positive impact, but I also have a complex relationship with it.
The upskirting campaign was my first campaign. I see it as part of my work, not the extent of it, and it’s also intimately tied to pain. For the public, being upskirted was an exciting origin story, but for me it was trauma. I was assaulted in public, and everyone knows the details. They want to hear the story from my mouth so they can enjoy the triumph at the end. The plot twist.
At some point, the narrative became no longer mine. Recently, I recounted it to my therapist, and couldn’t get through it for crying. She gently told me it may be because this was the first time someone was here to help me, not just for the story. Changing the law was the most difficult work I have done, or will ever do. I worked full-time in an office while campaigning, lobbying parliament and running a national media campaign with very little money in my pocket, zero political or legal experience and a never-ending inbox of rape threats and abuse. I came up against sexism and misogyny in parliament, was underestimated constantly, and was under the spotlight of the British media. I don’t look back at that period fondly – but my feelings about it are not only due to my trauma or how hard the process was.
In 2017, I believed the best way to prevent upskirting was by criminalising it; it was the biggest I could think and would lead to the most impactful change. The institutional script teaches us that prosecuting people for the harm they cause will solve the problem. I was also driven by the experience of being a victim of stalking who had spent years feeling terrified by a man that the state didn’t deal with, so to me, changing the law was about making victims and survivors feel safer by giving them something to use. I didn’t ask if the men who commit this act – because it is overwhelmingly men – would be changed by the process. I didn’t think of them much at all.
My politics is no longer the politics I had eight years ago. I know now that the UK has the most privatised criminal “justice” system in Europe. I know that companies who operate prisons have a vested interest in maintaining incarceration. And that prison is the opposite of growth and rehabilitation. And so here comes the tension: my immediate safety has been improved by the incarceration of men who want to hurt me, but the system that did it will not make them less likely to harm me, others or themselves when they come out.
You see, what I need in a society where the threat of danger is ongoing is not the same as the society I want. I can’t opt out of this reality, but I can see where we could be and I want to be part of helping us get there. I don’t want more prisons and punishment. I want more prevention. A small number of men convicted of upskirting have been sentenced to prison under my law (and a significant number of them were also convicted of other sexual offences; one was found to have 250,000 indecent images of children). While I am thankful that children will be safer because of his conviction, my work now also asks, “How do we prevent this before we need to criminalise it?”
Though I’m not rejecting my past work, I see my purpose now as trying to make my own law moot; if I can contribute to a reality where sexual assault is significantly reduced and the voyeurism act is used less, I’ll be happy. If I can do work that breaks the circuit of lost boys becoming insecure men who use sexual assault as a way to feel powerful, I’ll be proud.
That’s why I host sessions on misogyny and the impact of it; why I’m training in facilitation so I can run workshops with young people on masculinities and gender; and why I speak in schools across the UK as well as raise funds for grassroots organisations. There may not be a big, sparkly win, but there will be consistent impact in the form of smaller wins. There may not be headlines about the boys who attended masculinity workshops and grew up respecting people of all genders more, or about the girls who felt seen and used their voices because of activists who created spaces for them, but I’d much rather move forward as that woman than “the upskirting girl”. Even though it’s much less catchy”.
You can follow Gina Martin on Instagram. An Ambassador for Beyond Equality and someone who has delivered talks and seminars at schools, Martin is this amazing activist and feminist. I want to finish off with a feature she wrote for Elle following the horrifying multiple rapes that Gisèle Pelicot suffered. Ending things with reaction to an event in history that is so fresh still. The shockwaves still being felt. The barbaric and distributing abuses against a woman who waived her write to anonymity and was so brave! Standing up to her attackers and speaking out. It is a really fascinating article from Gina Martin:
“Last week, I watched every single news outlet report on the horrifying rape case of a French woman named Gisèle (although she has waived her right to anonymity, I won’t be using her surname as it is that of her abuser) whose husband abused her and enlisted local men to do so too for over a decade. A law I helped create was what caught him. He was found upskirting women and when the police searched his devices they found tens of thousands of videos of his wife allegedly being raped by other men. According to prosecutors, more than 70 men chose to abuse Gisèle when she was unconscious (many of them deny this, saying her then-husband had manipulated them or that they believed she was consenting). That amount of men is terrifying women all over the world: if her husband was able to find that many local men that felt comfortable abusing an unconscious woman when offered, what does it mean?
All week people have been contacting me thanking me for my work creating the Voyeurism Act in 2019 – or making upskirting a specific sexual offence – but I feel no pride. Not only because my opinions on criminalisation as a solution to violence have changed, but also because I don’t gain any pleasure from finding out a woman has been victimised, even if their perpetrator was caught using a law I helped create. I just feel really sad. Deeply, deeply sad.
There are layers to this sadness and rage, because as a gender equality activist who has worked across law and policy change – with UNWomen UK and for our country's leading gender equality charities – there is hopelessness in seeing how much our media discourages society not to connect the dots between stories about gendered violence, and to look away from what causes it.
Of late, the news has been overrun with painful outcomes of male violence including the heartbreaking death of Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei who was reportedly set on fire by her ex-partner. But what enraged people in the sector I work in was how passive the headlines about these stories were, and how so many of them reinforced misogyny: Gisèle was called 'vengeful' for holding her husband accountable in one headline. Why shape our perceptions of rape survivors as malicious and distract from the violence inflicted on them in doing so? Media style-guides have so much to answer for. Weeks ago, headlines about the alleged murder of Suffolk local, Anita Rose, were written so passively that social media users thought she’d been attacked by a dog. No perpetrator was mentioned even though a murder investigation has been launched and Suffolk police are appealing for information about two men. The headline 'woman dies after attack while walking dog' encourages us to think of male violence as some random abstract force.
Activists and athletes carry a banner as they march through Eldoret, western Kenya, in September 2024, to demonstrate against the murder of women in Kenya after Rebecca Cheptegei's death.
And yet, the reality is that 98% of all adult arrests for sexual offences in England and Wales are men. When trying to figure out why, we can point at obvious symptoms of misogyny: porn culture, misogynistic streamers, social media, gender – and the socialisation of it. Misogyny is a defining indicator that runs through all of these atrocities and yet as a society we are absolutely unprepared to admit or examine that.
Misogyny is a defining indicator that runs through all of these atrocities and yet as a society we are absolutely unprepared to admit or examine that.
Those of us who work in gender equality are well-versed in the decades of work by feminists and radical thinkers who exposed that the socialisation of the gender binary was a colonial invention that was harming us all; yes even men with power. Traditional gender roles, introduced by colonial powers, socialise people into ideas about who they must be and how they must act. Masculinity is about being strong and independent; men are told that the only acceptable emotions to show are happiness or anger, and they must procure women in order to be seen as masculine. They are socialised to be an island, unwilling to be vulnerable or ask for help, not expected to be emotionally intelligent. They must be competent and hold down the role of the dominant one in their relationships, families and wider society, with violence being an acceptable way to handle problems or fears. When you spell it out like this it’s pretty clear how this gender stereotype leads to violence. Comparatively, when you look at how femininity is socialised (Submissive! Quiet! Existing in proximity to men!) you can see a problem in how men are conditioned to view women.
Culture is changing and conversations about gender have permeated the zeitgeist, but actual literacy around the socialisation of masculinity and misogyny remains low. We need to change this urgently, so that more people can start to understand how gender shapes our sense of self and behaviours and how misogyny is a system not just individual behaviours or comments; they are a symptom. Without understanding how this system shapes us and how we are all part of upholding it, we can’t start to move the dial on this”.
I am going to leave things there. There are other articles like this that I want to point people in the direction of. However, I would also compel people to explore beyond that. A phenomenal campaigner and activist, it was a no-brainer including Gina Martin in this feature! Consider the hugely important work she has done and continues to do. I am always in awe of what she does and how she is constantly fighting for equality rights for women. A person committed to the fight for women’s rights, she has made a big impact on me. Ever since I heard her speak two years ago for The Trouble Club, I have followed her and her work. An amazing human who has transformed so many people and helped bring about enormous changes, I feel like her influence, passion and brilliance will continue to bring about change…
IN the years to come.