A repeated tendency to observe others engaging in intimate, including sexual, behaviour. Sexual excitement often occurs in anticipation of the voyeuristic act, which may be accompanied by masturbation.
Voyeurism is a practice in which an individual derives sexual pleasure from observing other people. Such people may be engaged in sexual acts, or be nude or in underwear, or dressed in whatever other way the "voyeur" finds appealing.
VoyeurismClassifications and external resources
| ICD-10 | F65.3 |
|---|---|
| ICD-9 | 302.82 |
Also, the word voyeur can define someone who receives enjoyment from witnessing other people's suffering or misfortune;
Characteristics
Voyeuristic practices may take a number of forms but their characteristic feature is that the voyeur does not directly interact with the object of their voyeurism (often unaware that they are being observed), instead observing the act from a distance by peeping through an opening or using aids such as binoculars, mirrors, cameras (including camera phones and video cameras), etc.
The key element behind voyeurism--and the factor that distinguishes it from paraphilias such as mixoscopia--is the occulted nature of the voyeurs themselves. Part of the thrill of voyeurism is being almost caught. This form of non-consensual voyeurism is considered an invasion of privacy.
Voyeurism may be tolerated or even appreciated if the people viewed are exhibitionists.
A subset of voyeurs derive sexual pleasure from looking under articles of clothing, an act known as an upskirt. Some voyeurs also derive pleasure by looking down shirts and viewing breasts, particularly when a person is bending over.
Criminalization
In some cultures, voyeurism is considered to be deviant and even a sex crime. In the United Kingdom, non-consensual voyeurism became a criminal offense on May 1, 2004, under section 67 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The stereotypical voyeur is male, although many women also enjoy being voyeurs.
In Canada, voyeurism was not a crime when the case Frey v. In 2004, the Parliament of Canada considered Bill C-2, which would have amended the Canadian Criminal Code to establish voyeurism as a sexual offense. On November 1, 2005, section 162 was added to the Canadian Criminal Code, declaring voyeurism as a sexual offense.
Some institutions, such as gyms and schools, have banned camera phones because of the privacy issues they raise in areas like changerooms.
Voyeurism in fiction
Voyeurism is something of a clichéd plot device in cinematic fiction, for instance in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. Voyeurism is also shown for a brief period in other films, such as Amélie, American Pie and Cocoon. Ecouteurism is a variant of voyeurism that involves listening rather than seeing.DSM IV Classification
According to DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, IV edition, 2000), where all psychiatric illnesses are represented as numerals to avoid confusion, voyeurism is classified as a paraphilia with code 302.82.
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