‘A selfish desire that hurts others’: more offenders of upskirt photography in Hong Kong seeking help to quit addiction, study finds
- Joint study by Lingnan University and Caritas finds greater proportion of sex crime perpetrators seeking help are upskirt photography offenders
- Most individuals were previously more concerned about being found out than whether their behaviour was intrinsically wrong
Fifty-year-old Hongkonger K* had taken upskirt photographs for more than a decade, but it was only five years ago when he was arrested for outraging public decency that he realised he had inflicted harm on his victims.
He reached out for help to quit his addiction following the arrest and joined a rehabilitation scheme. It was then that he understood for the first time how traumatised the women were.
“I took those photos because I wanted to get something to quench my desire. I didn’t put them on the internet,” K said, adding he had thought his “selfish desire” would not hurt anyone, but he was wrong.
“The delusion that no harm would be done turns out to be the biggest harm to the victims,” he added.
K is among dozens of people interviewed for a joint study by Lingnan University and the Caritas Specialised Treatment and Prevention Project Against Sexual Violence (Caritas) on upskirt photography offenders seeking help.