Voyeurism means getting sexual pleasure from watching other people, and a voyeur is someone who does. Watching others with their knowledge and consent is lawful. Watching or recording them without their consent is a criminal offence. The same line applies to exhibitionists, and to anything agreed with an escort.
What a voyeur is
In everyday use, a voyeur enjoys watching other people undressed or having sex. Many of the ways people do this are consensual and lawful: watching a partner, adult venues where everyone present has agreed, and live shows. What turns it into voyeurism in the criminal sense is that the person being watched does not know, or has not agreed.
What an exhibitionist is
An exhibitionist enjoys being watched or exposing themselves. That is lawful when the people watching have agreed. In England and Wales it is an offence to expose your genitals intending someone to see them and to be caused alarm or distress, and a sexual act in a public place can be charged as outraging public decency.
Where the law draws the line
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 makes it an offence to observe, or to record, another person doing a private act without their consent, for sexual gratification, and to set up equipment to do so. A private act is one done where privacy would be expected, such as undressing, using the toilet or having sex. Taking a picture under someone’s clothing without consent, known as upskirting, has been a separate offence since 2019. Sharing an intimate image without consent, or threatening to, is also an offence, under changes made by the Online Safety Act 2023.
When it is a disorder
Doctors do not treat watching or being watched as a disorder in itself. A diagnosis is considered only where someone acts on the urge with people who have not consented, or where it causes the person serious distress. If it is troubling you, a GP or an NHS sexual health service can help, and the conversation is confidential.
Voyeurs, exhibitionists and escorts
Some people ask an escort to watch or to be watched, or to be filmed. It is something to raise before the booking and not during it. The escort can say no, and recording needs the clear agreement of everyone involved, as does sharing any footage afterwards. Hidden cameras in a room or a hotel are a crime. The services index lists the term for being filmed and explains why consent comes first, and safety and help has the contacts if something goes wrong.
For other terms, see the dating and hookup slang A to Z.