Woman confronts stranger for taking photo of her and friend, finds image sent to someone on WhatsApp
A furious woman confronted a stranger who allegedly took a photo of her and her friend without their knowledge, demanding to see his phone and deleting the image herself.
TikToker @jojojolynlynlyn recounted the incident in an 80-second video posted on Oct 8, saying she and her friend were waiting for their Grab ride to arrive when her friend noticed a man taking a photo of them.
From the video, the incident appeared to have taken place at Rendezvous Hotel on Bras Basah Road.
“This really got me so riled up.” she says. “I can’t believe that I have to tell a full-grown man that it’s not okay to take photos of girls.”
She went straight to the man, who was with a friend, and confronted him.
“Did you just take a photo us?” she recalls asking him.
The woman adds that she clicked on his WhatsApp chat and discovered that he had taken a photo of her and her friend and sent it to someone.
She then deleted the image from the chat and his phone’s photo album.
However, when she tried to check his recently deleted folder, the man’s friend interjected: “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.”
“Was he scared that I (would discover) that he was taking photos of other people?” she wonders.
“The entire time that I was scolding him, he just did this — OK, OK, OK, OK,” she says, demonstrating the gesture.
She was particularly upset that he did not apologise. “No, sorry. No, nothing,” she says.
“He even tried to tilt his phone away when I went into the recently deleted album,” she adds.
The woman warned other women to be aware of their surroundings and to contact the authorities if necessary.
Reflecting on the incident, she wrote in the video’s caption: “Looking back, I feel like I really could’ve said more to tell him off, but I think because of the shock of it all, I was really focused on deleting the photo from his phone.”
The video has since racked up more than 53,300 views, 3,480 reactions and 90 comments.
Netizens debate whether taking photos in public is wrong
The video drew mixed reactions, with some netizens condemning the man’s behaviour while others questioned whether taking photos of strangers in public was illegal.
“So disgusting and perverted, especially when they probably have daughters as well,” said a TikTok user.
“I’m so sorry this happened to you, babe,” another said.
However, there were others who pointed out that taking photos in public was not necessarily against the law.
“If you are in public places… I don’t think that person violated any laws. Unless you feel some sort of harassment… else… everyone in public has a right to take a photo,” said one TikToker.
“Serious question here — sure it might be creepy and yes, you may not like it, but I’m just curious, is it illegal?” asked a netizen.
However, some netizens felt that whether the act was illegal was beside the point.
“Why does it matter if it’s illegal, if it’s so obviously weird?” one asked.
One TikToker argued that the issue was the intention behind taking such photos.
“We are all in public spaces and obviously, we’ll end up in some strangers’ pictures at some point, but the problem here is the intention behind taking such photos of women SECRETLY,” the netizen commented.
Others were appalled that some commenters appeared to be defending the man.
“Hope you’re OK!!! And so sorry for all the disgusting men in the comments who seem to think it’s cool and impressive to defend such predatory behaviour,” said the user. “Thanks for looking out for all of us girls and we got your back, too.”
There were also less sympathetic comments.
“Let them enjoy once in a while, lah.” said one.
“You have every right to be angry and frustrated at pervs but please don’t generalise all men after all, our fathers and brothers are men too!” added another.
‘This just made me so so sad’: OP
Responding to one of the comments, Jojojolynlynlyn said the incident made her really sad.
“I can’t imagine the girls who get their photos taken of / upskirted photos and they don'’ even know. It’s damn gross to think that these men may be circulating these photos for their own pleasure.”
In another comment, she added that her intention was to encourage women to stand up for themselves.
“This has nothing to do with how we look, what we were wearing, whether the guys taking a photo of us were white, Chinese, or any other nationality for that matter, whether good-looking, millionaire or billionaire.
“Why can’t we just live life without worrying whether someone is taking an indecent photo around the corner WHY CAN’T YOU GUYS JUST LET US BE?” she asked.
“It is not against the law, but that does not make this morally right.”
Stomp has reached out to the original poster for more details.
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