Voyeurism

What is voyeurism?

Voyeurism is observing (or causing to be observed) a person, as well as making (or causing to be made) a picture or sound recording of that person.

Voyeurism can take many forms: from looking over the walls of showers, looking through a keyhole, peeping through binoculars or peeping online through webcams. Terms such as creepshots, upskirt or downblouse are often used in this context.

It is punishable when this happens:
   - directly or by technical or other means;
   - without that person's consent or without that person's knowledge;
   - While that person is bared or performing an explicit sexual act; and
   - while that person is in circumstances where he might reasonably expect to be sheltered from unwanted glances.

A bared person shall mean the person who, without consent or without his knowledge, displays any part of his body that would have remained concealed based on his sexual integrity if that person had known that he was being observed or that a video or audio recording of him was being made.

It is unclear whether peeping at a person in lingerie falls under this or not. The correctional court in Bruges already ruled in a judgment of April 16, 2019, that taking a picture under the skirt of a girl sliding down a slide was not punishable since the girl was wearing panties. On the other hand, the Tongeren correctional court ruled in a judgment dated February 10, 2020 that defoliation does not have to be complete; therefore, according to the court, voyeurism occurs when unsuspecting shopping ladies are filmed with a cell phone under their skirt, as the voyeur thereby single-handedly exposed more of their (intimate) body (parts) than they wished to leave visible to third parties, taking into account the clothing they were wearing.

The further distribution of sexually explicit image or sound recordings is also punishable under The crime of non-consensual distribution of sexually oriented content ("revenge porn").

In the context of the latter crime, the Supreme Court ruled in a judgment dated October 29, 2019, that the recognizability of the person is not a criterion. As soon as the victim recognizes himself on the disseminated images, the crime is accomplished, even if the victim would not be recognizable to third parties. By analogy, then, it could also be argued that even in the case of voyeurism, and more specifically the footage taken, it is irrelevant whether the victim is recognizable to the public or not.

When is there no voyeurism?

Voyeurism is not punishable when the person is not bared or does not perform explicit sexual acts. Possibly then what other crime, such as the hacking Of a webcam or a violation of the privacy rules.

Even when the person is bared or performs sexual acts, voyeurism occurs only when a person disrobes or performs sexual acts in the private sphere and assumes not to be seen but is nevertheless spied on, thus affecting his sexual honor and/or sexual integrity.

Examples where there is no crime of voyeurism:

• watching on the beach, or in a pool at others in swimwear
• looking in a public sauna at other naked visitors
• Watching a person deliberately undress in a public place.
• Viewing a person sunbathing naked on his terrace visible from the street
• Photographing or filming nude models or porn actors

How is voyeurism punished?

A voyeur is punishable by imprisonment from 6 months to 5 years (Article 417/8 Criminal Code).

Also, an attempt at voyeurism (i.e. as soon as there is the beginning of execution) receives the same punishment.