It took me a few moments to realise what I was looking at. It was a warm Sunday night, I had had a shower and returned to my bedroom, dried off and jumped on my bed – comfortably naked in the shelter of my bedroom. The curtains were closed except over a small window, clearly above head-height which faced onto the street.
Something caught my eye and as I stared, I realised I was looking at the symbol of an apple iPhone in my window. The streetlight was reflecting off of it and I stared at it in confusion. It took a few moments for me to understand what was happening and then a flash went off. I’ve tried persuading myself since that it was something else, but I know what I saw. A camera flashes in a really specific way – a small burst, a pause and then an actual flash.
I was naked, at home, in the shelter of my bedroom and someone had just taken a photo of me.
I screamed and covered myself with a blanket. I couldn’t quite comprehend what had just happened nor did I want to. The entire episode from start to finish took less than 30 seconds but it was enough time to make me feel completely violated in my own home.
The irony is – I had just finished watching YOU on Netflix. I’ve heard criticism that the show romanticises stalking and I’m not claiming that this is what happened to me, but I can now attest to what it feels like to be watched without your consent.
Now, I’m struggling to sleep through the night so I’ve been staying in a housemate’s room because I don’t feel safe in mine. My breath catches when I look at that window and I’ve wasted hours wondering: who was it, why did they do it, what are they planning to do with that photo, how long will this hang over me. But more than that, how did they do it? Did they have ill-intentions and incredible timing that I happened to be naked when they took a photo or is this something much more nefarious.
Top Comments
This is different from a case where something has happened to you and other people aren't believing you or are blaming you as the victim: there is simply no way to identify this offender, so the only way to regain your piece of mind is to make changes. Changing in the bathroom is one way: perhaps better would be installing some sort of security camera so that you can determine if it was a one off or if there's something more serious going on, and which would give the police a much greater chance of action. Google shows articles where such cameras have been reviewed as recently as November 2018, with the most expensive of those being a touch over $400.
Agree! I’d be installing some kind of camera. Peeping tom behaviour is predatory and can become extremely dangerous. Yes it’s unfair that the victim is the one who has to take action. The thing is that we simply cannot control another person’s choice to indulge in shocking behaviour.
Makes me wonder if this was a random thing. Did they just get lucky that you’d just taken a shower, have they done it before and just got photos of an empty room?