I WAS watching TV a few weeks ago when – to my horror – a friend sent me a TikTok video of me in the gym wearing nothing but a sports bra and tiny shorts.
I had no idea the clip had been filmed. ‘How?’ you might ask.
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Because my sick and twisted voyeur was wearing secret spy glasses to record me – against my will and without my knowledge – for cheap clicks online.
It sounds like something out of a horror movie – and the kind of technological advances women have been terrified of happening for decades.
But subterfuge filming by blokes is becoming more and more common.
According to UN Women, an estimated 736million women – one in three – have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence.
The rising figures are alarming – and unfortunately something I’ve been subjected to in the past.
But as if women already didn’t already have enough to be worried about from these statistics, now men are using covert methods to film us – and in many cases, we could have absolutely no idea.
£299 spy glasses for pervs
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The video of me had been posted by a guy who had tried to chat me up whilst I was lifting weights in my local London gym.
He wasn’t holding a camera, so I had no idea I was being filmed.
Instead, he was wearing secret spy glasses – available for an eye-watering £299 by Ray-Ban or a mere £35 on Amazon – which have two tiny cameras, as well as an in-built microphone, open-ear speakers and a touchpad built into the frame.
To a naked eye, these thicker-frame glasses look like regular eyewear.
Which is why I – and so many other woman who are unaware there’s a viral video of them circulating online – didn’t think much of it when the man approached me.
The man, in his 30s, came up to me whilst I was minding my own business and lifting weights at the gym – which I’d long considered my safe space.
It was purely intended for a bit of entertainment
TikTok creep who filmed me
He asked whether I was a personal trainer and would be willing to show him how to perform a squat properly – a cringe line I had heard on several occasions before. I laughed it off and said ”no”.
The interaction lasted for about three to four minutes before he proceeded to ask for my number in an attempt to take me out on a date.
Uninterested, I declined exchanging numbers – and instead, gave him my Instagram handle, in hopes that this is where the conversation would end and he’d sit in my Follow Requests forever.
That wasn’t the case, however. All of this had been recorded without my knowledge – and posted on TikTok two or so days later with caption ”#gymrizz”.
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‘Has she taken coke for pre-workout?’
In a total state of shock at seeing the video, I couldn’t bring myself to watch any of the short footage – but the vile comments about my appearance were more than enough to put me off.
Hiding behind a keyboard, trolls, perhaps totally unaware I had been filmed without my consent, were saying my eyes looked like I’d just sniffed some cocaine and if I’d just come back from a wild trip in Colombia.
My way of interacting was dubbed ”weird”, with someone even saying I probably wouldn’t dare to even return to the gym.
What they didn’t know is I actually just felt very uneasy and was nervous.
How to know you’re getting recorded
Millie Turner, Senior Technology & Science Reporter, explains…
Premium smart glasses will typically have a blinking LED light that shows when they’re recording.
So if you spot that, it’s a dead giveaway that someone is filming you.
Of course a creep could simply cover the light up and then secretly record you anyway.
You might still see a faint glow so look very closely at the corners of the frames.
But you should also look for signs that someone is starting a recording.
Often these glasses will only record video for short bursts, so if a person is coming up to you to record an interaction, they’d have to start the recording very close to when they approach you.
So if you see a person walking towards you fiddling with the stem or frame of their glasses, they might well be pressing a button to film you.
Of course the real problem is that cameras are so common and cheap these days.
If someone wants to record you secretly, they’ll find a way to do it – with glasses or not.
Unfortunately, people will keep finding new ways to secretly film you, especially when they’re hunting for clicks and views online.
So the best advice is to simply always be on alert if strangers are approaching you.
If the interaction feels weird or off, if you can, politely end the conversation and walk away.
If you’re at a gym or in a shop and you think you’re being secretly filmed, report it to the staff.
But if you’re in a public place, it can be harder to take action beyond just looking for the signs and walking away.
The man, who I found on Instagram and messaged right after learning about the clip, apologised (and even had the audacity to ask me out for dinner) before removing the video.
His explanation – it was all simply for fun.
”[It] was purely intended for a bit of entertainment and my approaching you was actually genuine,” he wrote.
”I thought it was a fun interaction and good entertainment for people – but I wasn’t expecting it to upset you.”
According to him, ”there have been some girls that have seen and said it’s okay and funny” – but I wasn’t amongst them. I wasn’t going to be okay with someone invading my privacy.
For victims like myself, the cheap clicks, views and profile growth are all at our expense – and so many women are totally unaware that this has become a major issue on social media.
‘It felt disrespectful and dehumanising’
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The following morning after learning I had become an overnight TikTok sensation, I headed straight to the assistant manager at my gym and explained what had happened.
After taking a quick glance at the guy’s TikTok page – which since appears to have been removed – the manager immediately realised another thing – that I wasn’t the only member whose privacy had been so brutally invaded.
The same thing had happened to another woman at my gym.
”I didn’t realised I was being filmed – at all,” says Ezgi Yarbas, a small digital media company owner, 29.
She told me that the very same creep had attempted to chat her up in the nearby Pret A Manger.
”There was nothing about his behaviour that indicated he was filming,” said Ezgi who noted the aspiring Romeo was ”trying to be charming” – despite her shutting it down and telling him she already had a boyfriend.
”I didn’t notice any indication of a camera or a blinking light. It seemed like a normal, albeit unwelcome, attempt at flirting – until the truth came out.”
The alarming ”rizz” trend on social media
It’s one of the most trending words of the year – but now ”rizz” (slang for charisma) has taken a twisted turn.
On TikTok alone there are more than 1.5million videos of men brazenly showing off their pathetic ”rizz” skills.
Although in some scenarios these absurd clips are filmed with a phone and the person can see they’re getting recorded, many victims are totally unaware the interaction is secretly recorded with spy glasses.
According to TikTok, content creators can earn up to £30 for a video that’s gained a million views – many of which have gone even more viral than that.
£30 may not seem like a huge sum of money for destroying someone’s privacy – however, once the profile gains more traction to their page, they’ll start uploading more and more similar videos, raking them extra, all at our expense.
When I explained to my fellow gym-goer that the same thing had happened to me, we both quickly discovered that the TikTok weirdo had most likely filmed us – and a few other women – on the same day.
Ezgi dropped a message to the guy – but although he did eventually remove the video, the damage had already been done.
Ezgi says: ”This experience left me feeling exposed and anxious, and it has certainly made me more cautious and guarded – especially when strangers approach me with glasses.
”The entire ordeal has made me rethink how vulnerable we can be in public spaces.”
‘He blackmailed me’
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A few weeks later I stumbled across Anna*.
Earlier this summer, she was hit on by a man whilst making her way down the escalator at a train station.
He asked for her number – which she gave in hopes to put an end to the unwanted conversation.
Days later, she was horrified to see a video of the exchange on Instagram and TikTok.
Although she begged the creator to remove the content, the bloke, who boasts over 23k followers on the platform, began to blackmail her, saying he’d take the video off on one condition – that they’d go on a date.
”I don’t post myself online and so when my friend sent me that video I was shocked,” said the 25-year-old student from London.
”I just think it’s really sad and pathetic that an interaction like that needs to be put online without my consent just so he can monetise that situation.
”It’s genuinely traumatised me and I don’t think I’d talk to another man who ‘cold approaches’ me again.”
Despite reporting the incident to the police, Anna was told that there was nothing they could do – and the two officers even had the audacity to joke that she should agree on the date.
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‘Feeling unsafe’
Unfortunately, before I had become a target and a victim, I was familiar with videos of such nature.
I’d seen one too many clips of young women walking home from a night-out in Manchester and North East with creeps lurking behind the corner and filming the totally unaware party-goers.
We’re supposed to be out and about having fun with our friends, enjoying a night of drinks and dancing whilst forgetting about all the worries of life for just a moment.
But now these sickos are brutally taking away even this and whatever little freedom we -as women – often feel like we have left.
Shared across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, these clips have gone viral on social media, racking up millions of views – and misogynistic comments.
The videos, in the majority of which the women appear to be intoxicated, often also show them falling over, with their underwear on show – for everyone to see online, without their knowledge.
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”It’s always the fat friend that think there the sh*t,” reads one nasty comment – liked over 12k times.
”Call me crazy but I love watching these videos,” said someone else.
”Why do they all look the same – big lashes and duck lips?” another wrote.
”Looks like the red district,” a viewer added.
GMP (the Greater Manchester Police), told the BBC that the new trend is a difficult area to navigate if you’ve been targeted.
They said that ”although it is not illegal to film people in public, if the action is causing distress or harassment it could be considered criminal”.
PCs Ellison and Seu from GMP said it could be difficult to spot people filming due to the technology they use.
“A lot of people speak to their phone as they’re walking past,” PC Ellison noted.
“We don’t know if they’re videoing or not as they’re going up the street. So it can be quite hard to get that one.”
More needs to be done
Of course, it’s difficult for a huge platform like TikTok to monitor everything that happens on the site – from the content shared to the comments posted.
However, whilst the China-based tech giant prohibits misogyny and any other hateful ideologies, for me – and so many others – the day we see these accounts down for good cannot come soon enough.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
No one should be recorded without consent in the first place, let alone to be then uploaded for everyone to see on the web.
Once again, we, women, are left feeling like it’s not safe to leave our house – and it shouldn’t be the case.
