“There is a creeper at the University of North Texas’ recreation center." The rumor started circulating last week across social media.
Instagram stories and Reddit posts warned female students that they may among the dozens of unsuspecting campus gym users whose photo had been taken and plastered on a website, “Candid Girls," alongside sexually objectifying captions.
The website is a forum of rudimentary design that promotes taking and posting images of women who are in public spaces and are unaware their photo is being taken. Individual posts, which are captioned with explicit buzzwords generally reserved for click-bait pornography, receive tens of thousands of clicks and comments. Comments left by users detail the sexual gratification they derived from the images.
When one UNT student, Kate S., saw the warnings of a Candid Girls user targeting the UNT Pohl Recreation Center, she began scouring the site. It didn’t take her long to find one user, whose account has now been deactivated, who boasted a hefty portfolio of “college girl” photos taken in the UNT gym.
Kate, who regularly works out at the gym, found dozens of photos of herself. When she scrolled through the user's account, she found images of 57 different women, all taken in the Pohl Rec Center.
“I was absolutely horrified. My heart dropped … The first thing was just like, how did I not know?” Kate, whose last name was not included in this report to maintain her privacy, told the Observer. “Every woman always knows ‘I need to pay attention to where I am at all times.’ And I thought at least at a campus gym, I thought I would be safe. But I guess that's not really the case.”
The photos can no longer be viewed on the Candid Girls website because the poster deactivated the account last Friday evening, but Google searches still show a preview of the images with their explicit labels.
In a statement shared with the Observer, a UNT spokesperson said the campus is “aware” of a Reddit post “about an individual taking photos” at the campus gym.
“The UNT Police Department is investigating. To date, we have identified some individuals in the photos and have taken several reports,” the statement reads. “Photography and video in the UNT recreation center locker rooms, restrooms and aquatic facilities are strictly prohibited.”
After reporting the images of herself to school officials, Kate says she was told that the photography may be allowed because she was in a public place when the photos were taken. But according to the Texas Penal Code, images taken without the subject's consent with the intention to “arouse or gratify the sexual desires of any person” is an offense.
"I go to the gym to feel comfortable with my body and be confident. Now I can't do that because there's a creep taking photos of my girlfriends and I.” — Claire M., UNT Student
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Some female students who were photographed say the sexually explicit context of the website forum has been shocking, leaving them feeling wary of their surroundings while on campus.
“Now when I go to the rec, I wear a bunch of baggy clothes, like sweatpants and oversized shirts, which sucks, because I go to the gym to feel comfortable with my body and be confident,” Claire M., another UNT student who found photos of herself on the website, told the Observer. “Now I can't do that because there's a creep taking photos of my girlfriends and I.”
Claire found over 20 images of herself working out at the Pohl Recreation Center posted to the website. Her roommate was pictured nearly 60 times. The folder containing the images of the two girls was labeled “the best friend short and tall duo.”
“I was like great. So now we have a name,” Claire said. “With some of the photos, I noticed that when, whoever this creeper is, they would take the photos, they would blur themselves out if they could be seen in the mirror.”
The irony of the photographer granting themselves anonymity is not lost on her.
Claire said the images taken of herself were months old, but she believes the postings spanned a wide time frame, as some of the images showed more recent updates to the gym pictured in the background.
She continues to visit the campus gym for now, but she says she may look into switching gyms if she begins to feel unsafe. Claire’s face could not be seen in the images, but her roommates’ could be seen clearly. Kate’s face could be seen as well, which has left her concerned about her privacy.
The photos of Kate were taken last spring, she deduced through cross-referencing entries in her personal journal with the weights she was using in the photos. In many instances, whoever took the photos waited until she was in a suggestive position, such as bending over, to snap a photo.
It makes the images look intentional, as if Kate had posed for them, which she describes as the “most awful” aspect of the situation. In many cases on the website, the comment section on images of women bending over — to tie her shoes, to collect an object from a low shelf, to execute an exercise — are filled with rhetoric such as “she knew what she was doing.”
Kate and Claire are now among the female students urging UNT officials to do something to address their concerns and those of their peers. Claire believes that a campus alert should be sent out to warn women of the peeping photographer.
“There needs to be some kind of protection for students, especially women in the gym,” Kate said. “If they say there's nothing they can do, that is so concerning because then it becomes a women's issue. [It’s telling] me, as a female in a co-ed space, that I have no protection against other guys. It's just all up to me.”
