One day in February this year, 30-year-old advertising copywriter Yanni Gentsch was out jogging alone in a park in Cologne.

Looking behind, she noticed a cyclist following her and filming her backside with his smartphone. Gentsch confronted the man and forced him to delete the footage. She in turn took out her smartphone and filmed the perpetrator.

Her own footage shows that this voyeur appears overwhelmed by her determination to hold him accountable. He stammers excuses and claims that "nothing happened," while ultimately blaming her.

"Why are you wearing pants like that?" he said in an attempt to blame the victim. Gentsch responded with a simple statement that has become the slogan of her movement: "My clothes are no invitation!"

The video has since gone viral, with more than 16 million views on Instagram. It has also sparked a wave of solidarity.

"I am impressed by your courage," read one comment on her post. "When a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women," said another.

'Make voyeuristic recordings a crime'

Gentsch wanted to press charges, but learned that this was not possible under German law. Secretly filming someone is only a criminal offense when it includes their private parts, meaning that "upskirting" (filming under a skirt) or filming naked skin is a crime.

However, filming clothed body parts, even if deliberately filmed for sexual purposes, is not prohibited.

But Gentsch isn't backing down. She started a petition titled "Make voyeuristic recordings a crime," which at time of writing had more than 125,000 signatures.

The petition's central demand is for the German Criminal Code to be amended to make any secret recording that is sexually motivated a criminal offense — regardless of whether nudity is involved.

"The current legal framework protects perpetrators, not victims," writes Gentsch in the petition. "Secret filming is an abuse of power: The shame belongs with the perpetrators.”

Sexual harassment of women very high in Germany

On August 25, Gentsch personally handed over her petition, which is addressed to the Federal Minister of Justice, and the Minister of Justice in her state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Benjamin Limbach.

In November, ministers of justice across all German states will meet at an annual conference and are expected to discuss an amendment to the Criminal Code.

Limbach is in favor of the amendment. "Our law must draw a clear line when body parts are secretly filmed or photographed for sexual purposes, or against a person's will," he said.

Gentsch's initiative has sparked a national conversation, and not just on social media but across national newspapers, radio stations and even prime-time news shows. This is partly because of Gentsch's ability to articulate an everyday reality for almost all women in Germany.

According to a 2022 study by Merseburg University of Applied Sciences, nine out of ten respondents have experienced some form of sexual harassment in public space.

At the handover of her petition, Gentsch made it clear: "Sexual harassment is never harmless, but rather the first step in a spiral of violence."