This problem of privacy and consent is one that the people of Cameroon, the Fang, having strong opinions on privacy, dealt with shortly after the day a group of anthroplogists arrived carrying a tall and slender wooden studio camera to use in their documentation and research activities. The picture taking was inturrupted soonafter, and villagers soon strongly prohibited and discouraged such things from happening–because, as they understood it, they believed such a thing would not impress their local spirits, the only ones permitted to make magic, and being upset--disaster would ensue.
It was said that the local spirits, worshiped as gods by the village, and quite powerful, had spoken-- and let it be known that only bad things would come from the use of the white mans wooden box, a box which harnessed the light of a person....taken after being placed infront of the person..this would surely darken and destroy their souls before their journey to the place of their ancestors. to record them and their image, they would have felt deeply and personally "violated" .."Please do not bring this shame upon us" the Fang village elders said. The white anthropologists took the pictures anyways, thinking nothing wrong in doing so.
Now, this early form of voyeurism wasn't a plague or a problem, or even an issue, until one day a very well-intentioned and well-meaning research assistent somewhere inside the group had the bright idea to try and explain to the Fang what a camera was…...a monumental mistake of course because explaining the mechanics of light-processed image reproduction to individuals who had no place, patience, or time for such a concept is like explaining Socialist Realism to Lady Gaga...so of course the Fang said "no way" ....because hello!! eternal exile from the spirit world of the ancestors was NOT a sufficient reason enough to help the white man and his dangerous use of these "WoodBoxes of Person & Animal-kept-Light." The village now contained 2 other boxes, to join the original one that, as every villager whispered, was for weeks now known to be carefully collecting its grouping of souls inside.
At this point you might wonder, how much harm could come to that Fang village with their "violated" sense of dignity now soiled by the white mans flashpowder and shoeprints, stamped upon them forever.... and all the way in england, people "looking" at pictures taken of them without their consent.... this was a cruel and indignant way to hurt people, right? and by bad i mean it did what to the Fang again?? Hurt their feelings? feelings that were created not by the white man and his magic but by the idea of the unknown and the uncontrollable? whos responsible for that feeling?
Not them, thought the white men. Hiding the picture taking was probably easier in the long run they reasoned..(even though "hiding" isnt the right word, since "hiding behind the tree" to a people raised to live and survive with attention to every single aspect of movement or noise in the wild soon makes "hiding" an exercise in futility). so they did what any moral, upstanding member of the community would do--they lied. They had that same assistant who had started all the trouble, a nervous woman named Eleanor, go back and explain to them that they should no longer worry…. it suddenly "wasnt" a camera... better yet, all three of the hideous boxes were now, according to Eleanor, "something else that is not a camera, or camera-like in any way."
Ultimately, what the pictures taken were used for apparently didnt bring armageddon down upon the Fang village. How? Because the well-kept Village had its own set of important problems to tackle, just as serious as the nosy white men and their field studies: there was rain to pray for; witches to find and their spells to counter; crop-giving and water-bearing spirits to summon; fish to catch; and newborn babies to feed. Life goes on.
So, is voyuerism wrong? who does it really hurt? And why?