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This article has been published to coincide with an episode of Mashable's new podcast, History Becomes Her.Listen here.

Gina Martin is an activist, campaigner, author, and law-changer.

In the summer of 2017, Martin was at a music festival in London with her sister when she was upskirted by a man in the crowd.

The term upskirting refers to the violating act of taking photos or videos under a person's clothes without consent in an effort to capture their crotch area, underwear, and genitals. When Martin reported what happened to police, she was told there wasn't much they could do. What Martin later learned is that upskirting was not legally classed as a sexual offence under the law in England and Wales. So, Martin set about to change that.

In this episode of History Becomes Her, Martin discusses how she lobbied the government and changed the law, making upskirting a criminal offence.

You can listen to the episode onApple Podcasts, Spotify, Acast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Gina Martin at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2019 on August 16, 2019.Credit: Simone Padovani/Awakening/Getty Images

In 2017, Martin launched a campaign called #StopSkirtingTheIssue, initially setting out to raise awareness of the prevalence of upskirting. After more than 110,000 people backedMartin's petition to make upskirting illegal, she took her campaign to the government to turn signatures into legislation. Working with lawyer Ryan Whelan, Martin secured cross-party support and meetings with senior lawmakers.

After two years of hard work and determination, Martin changed the lawin England and Wales. Martin made upskirting illegal, and under the new legislation those convicted of the crime face up to two years in prison. In the year since the law change, four men have been jailed and 16 men have been convicted of the crime, according tofigures from the Crown Prosecution Service. Before the change to the law, perpetrators of upskirting were charged with outraging public decency or a crime of voyeurism.

The road to making upskirting a sexual offence was not easy. In June 2018, a bill criminalising the offence was blockedby Conservative MP Christopher Chope. Martin was sitting opposite Chope — who previously votedagainst same-sex marriage in the House of Commons — when he shouted, "Object."

Nevertheless, Martin persisted. Following Chope's objection, then-Prime Minister Theresa May promised that the government would push the law change through parliament. On April 12, 2019, the upskirting law was introduced in England and Wales.

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In this episode of History Becomes Her, Martin speaks about how she brought about tangible change through activism, as well as the challenges she faced in her campaign. Martin also shares her admiration for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S. Representative for New York's 14th congressional district, and the youngest woman ever electedto Congress.

Martin's book Be the Changetells the story of how she went about building a campaign from the ground up, and it's a useful toolkit for anyone wanting to bring about change in the world.

Subscribe to History Becomes Her onApple Podcasts, Spotify, Acast,or wherever you get your podcasts.

TopicsActivismSocial Good

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