Holly Willoughby has opened up about her experience of upskirting

Despite the invasive, malicious nature of upskirting – taking a photo up a woman’s skirt without her consent – it still isn’t a specific criminal offence in 2018.

Not only are celebrities not immune to this happening to them, but direct targets, as Holly Willoughby recently explained on This Morning.

Speaking to activist Gina Martin (who we interviewed about taking a stand against upskirting last year), Willoughby described how cameramen “go really low” to get a snap of female celebrities’ crotches.

Introducing the segment, co-host Philip Schofield said: “Working with Holly and other women in this industry, you notice that at events with the Time’s Up campaign… you have women walking down the red carpet with white roses, saying, ‘Okay time’s up’.

“Then at the end of the night you’ve got paps taking those. That’s a mild image compared to some of the ones you see.

“You see the cameraman go really down on the floor.”

Willoughby added: “Oh yeah, they go really low, and then it’s ‘grapples with her assets’, and it’s like, well that’s not what was happening. I was trying to hide my modesty, and protect myself.”

She continued: “Well done you for being brave enough and making a stand. I’m right behind you, I hope that it makes a change, finally.”

Willoughby previously spoke out against upskirting at the Brits in an Instagram post of upskirt shots paparazzi had taken of woman after the show.

She captioned the post: “At the beginning of the night we held white roses and walked down a red carpet full of the hope and pride that comes with the #timesup campaign…

“At the end of the night, cameras were held low to get a photo up our skirts… times apparently up on #timesup.”

Campaigner Gina Martin is fighting for upskirting to be made a specific sexual offence in England and Wales. Find out more about her petition here.

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Campaigners are calling for upskirting to be made a specific criminal offence