Digital Surveillance, But Make It Fashionable

Why should we desensitise women to breaches of their own privacy?

Meta smart glasses are slowly cementing into mainstream fashion, with Kylie Jenner and Alex Consani posing glamorously in them, almost as if they were nothing more than a trendy accessory. They come in various colours and styles, with the added ability to record videos of strangers without them knowing. Chic, right?

Ray-Ban and Oakley are the two notable brands with their own smart glasses, allowing you to view text notifications, read map instructions, and use the AI Meta assistant to answer questions and even set reminders. It appears intriguing, but why do we need a pair of glasses to perform everything our iPhones are already programmed to do?

What was previously assumed to be nerdy is seeing a new lease of life, with influencers appearing animated at the idea of recording everyone in sight and invading strangers’ privacy. Not only is it trendy to promote AI, but we’re now encouraging digital surveillance despite its harm towards women’s safety. With the rise of social media, creepy men have taken advantage of the online facilities to record women, often in vulnerable states, and upload these videos online. In recent years, there’s been a surge in content which exploits drunk or homeless women, particularly on busy high streets, for the amusement of the general public. Typically, it’s older men that consume this content (to no one’s surprise).

Earlier this year, the BBC investigated an ongoing issue where men secretly record intoxicated women stumbling through the streets of Deansgate, Manchester. These videos often focus on those wearing tight and minimal clothing, with the subject unaware that she’s being recorded. The videos are uploaded under the concept of documenting Manchester’s nightlife in a candid approach, with no harmful intentions. But anyone who chooses to consume or film this kind of content is posing a large threat to women’s safety.

A separate BBC investigation highlights the male influencers providing dating advice to their audience by recording conversations with the women they aim to seduce using Meta glasses. Various women have spoken out about being included in these videos without their knowledge, and their bewilderment makes it feel dystopian in a way. If harassment has this advanced, Orwellian look to it, it’s more difficult to categorise it as a threat. The popularity of this content, where men secretly record women, is only normalising this breach in autonomy and desensitising us to the discomfort of being preyed on. When women are too scared to take public transport on their own at night, this phenomenon is only adding to that concern. How can men say that they aren’t the problem when they give us more and more reasons to fear for our safety?

Using Kylie Jenner to promote these glasses is pushing feminism back by a million miles. When your fanbase is dominated by young, impressionable women, they’re likely to throw money into whatever product you sell. Figures such as the Kardashians and Molly-Mae are known to have a large influence over their audiences’ spending habits, so using someone of that authority to advertise a product which actually puts women at a disadvantage beneath men is incredibly ironic. The Meta glasses are a capitalist's wet dream, making it inevitable for Kylie to collaborate with Ray-Ban on her own collection. We’re disappointed, but not surprised.

Unfortunately, pervy spy glasses were always going to be marketed towards women in order to convince us of their benefit. The normalisation of digital surveillance has offered women no reassurance about their own safety. Just because everyone’s wearing them, that doesn’t make it any less predatory. No one wants to be filmed without their consent, and in a time when violence against women is growing, the thought of being a victim of the Meta glasses’ super duper sexy ultra-wide 12MP camera is far from flattering.

With popular reality shows such as ‘Love Island’ and ‘Big Brother’ popularising the humiliation of women through digital surveillance, the Meta glasses are just another pursuit of terrorising women and publicising their discontent. To market this product towards women by giving it a cat-eye rim and a hot campaign, you could argue that women have the ability to make themselves the beneficiaries. “You can harass men back!” could be the new tagline. And all the women would applaud and vlog using their new Meta glasses, and we’d all live happily ever after. But realistically, normalising the act of recording someone without their permission is not going to end sexual harassment or make women feel liberated. Women’s safeguarding is only going to become more of an issue because we’re desensitising ourselves to voyeurism. After all, Meta wants your data; they’re not here to protect you.