While my story won’t be a clear representation of what my fellow classmates also felt and might still feel, it will add at least one perspective that sheds some light on what it’s like to be the victim of (clothed) voyeurism.
Disclosure: The Post Millennial team has verified this user. They are published under a pseudonym due to the level of media attention on this case.
While my story won’t be a clear representation of what my fellow classmates also felt and might still feel, it will add at least one perspective that sheds some light on what it’s like to be the victim of (clothed) voyeurism.
I can safely say that none of us expected it. Sure, there were some signs that made Mr. Jarvis seem a little strange, but most of us, including myself, were convinced that he was just an awkward guy. Never in my life did I think he would commit a wrong that would make all of us feel violated and used.
Let’s start at the beginning, I was fresh into my second semester of grade 9 at H.B. Beal. Picture a sort of out-going, artsy girl. Even though I was attempting to figure how to navigate high school life, I started out as a very shy individual.
Fortunately, I eventually became comfortable enough to talk freely with my peers and teachers by this point. As things would have it, my first-period class was with Mr. Jarvis, or I should say, Ryan.
He taught English which was directly up my alley, and Ryan was very good at it. He was really chill and didn’t mind that the students read and did what they liked so long as everyone completed their work. He would often talk to us individually for casual conversation to get to know us. I didn’t dislike him in the least, in fact I thought he was cool.
It was through a few other friends of mine did I finally discover the anime club. I only went a few times, no more than 5 or 6 throughout the semester, but I was excited to see that Ryan was the supervisor.
That’s when we started to talk about our hobbies. He became really interested in me because of that connection, at least that’s what I assume, and since that first time of going to anime club, we talked about it fairly often outside of the club. He had a very good rapport with me and other students that were into anime.
On the contrary though, it became apparent after spending time in his classroom that he didn’t really like boys very much. Maybe two months into the semester, Ryan started developing an issue with the young boys in my class and in particular, a guy I knew from few of my other classes.
This guy, I’ll call him ‘C’, and I would banter on a lot with each other. C was known for it. He did it to other people all the time. I did it back because it was fun. I never took anything he said to me to heart and vice versa.
However, C’s antics did bother other people, including teachers and in specific, Ryan. Ryan paid extra attention to C, a lot. It was obvious to the rest of the class that he had very little tolerance for C, and so C would get into trouble way beyond normal expectation while in Ryan’s class.
It really kicked off when C asked Ryan to borrow his pen one day because he didn’t have one. Ryan always, literally every single day, had a pen in his shirt pocket.
He never took it out, but he played with it often while talking to students. And of course, now knowing why, he refused C’s request.
C and Ryan went back and forth on it for at least 2 minutes. Ryan told him multiple times that C couldn’t borrow his pen because, “it’s my pen, so you can’t have my pen” and that was that.
Ryan’s excuses were pretty odd to us but being 14/15-year-old kids and Ryan being a figure of authority, we didn’t think much of it.
Coming towards the end of the semester, C and Ryan’s relationship seriously declined. It became evident to me when Ryan asked me to hand out worksheets during class time.
While I was handing them out, C and I began to joke with each other as per usual. It became unusual when Ryan started to yell at C, telling him to, “get out of the classroom.” We were both pretty confused. Initially, C refused, and the argument escalated to Ryan having C step out into the hall to talk to him. In the meantime, I sat down in my seat. I’m pretty certain that C was sent to the office, but after that happened, Ryan pulled me out into the hallway as well.
His questions consisted of what C said to me, asking me to detail how C said it and if I was alright.
Of course, I denied C being cruel to me because we were just goofing around, and I made sure to make that clear to Ryan. The situation was never really resolved, and their relationship just nose-dived after it.
I still went to anime club every so often to watch, talk and eat snacks with friends. I think the last time I ever went to anime club was when my friends in the club and I spoke to Ryan as a group.
The conversation led to teacher’s favourite students and that’s when Ryan told me that out of his first-period class, “you’re my favourite student.” Obviously, that sounds super sketchy, but I saw this guy as someone I could trust.
He was one of my favourite teachers. He loved anime as much as I did, he loved that I was an arts student who drew anime and comic book characters all the time. Our hobbies were similar, so we just connected well. He even asked me to draw an assignment for him, just so he could keep it, and I did. I was really proud of it and I was pretty happy that someone I looked up to truly supported what I loved doing.
However, it was after this when I started to notice that whenever Ryan would speak to me in class, he would lean far over my shoulder while I was sitting, or too far into my personal space when he was facing me.
At the time, I just thought he was being friendly and naturally I would lean away or hunch over further because to me, he was just interested in whatever it was that I was working on, but I like I said, he would play with his pen excessively while doing so.
I talked to my other friends about his behaviour and some found it a little creepy but to be honest, I felt bad for him. He was weird, yes, but I didn’t think he had any ill intent.
Fast forward to the end of the semester and we all parted ways for the summer.
A few days into the break, I stayed the night at my friend’s house. At a little past noon, my mum called me and asked me to come home right away. It wasn’t normal for her to do something like that because I hung out with this friend all of the time. She had nothing to be worried about, so I asked her why.
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She told me that the police want to talk to me.
Naturally, I freaked out and I scanned my brain for if I had done something wrong, but I hadn’t.
I asked repeatedly why but she refused to answer me, so I went home immediately. Once I was home, the police gave me a run down.
They basically told me that I had to identify myself and then showed me stills of myself.
After I confirmed, they told me that they had come from videos that were filmed with a pen camera.
I had no clue what that meant, but it became obvious once they said that Ryan had been filming me and a slew of other girls during class time.
They told me how he was caught, red-handed, then arrested and as they searched his things, found hundreds of videos of myself and other girls, filmed in the same manner, on his computer.
They also told me that I was the third to be identified which is why they contacted my mother as quickly as they did. They asked me if I had noticed any weird behaviour and it all clicked.
I told them everything about C and every out-of-the-ordinary thing he said and did around me. I was shocked to say the least, and all I could think about was how I was so trusting of him, how I never thought that it was very weird that he was so attached to a pen he never used, how he told me I was his favourite student in my class. It all made sense at once and I was so disappointed that I didn’t see it sooner.
A lot of girls suffered from this mentality because we’re told to trust teachers. I think that’s what angered me the most. His image shattered in front of me and I felt like I would never be able to get close to a teacher again. It hurt me, it hurt all of us.
The police asked me to identify any one else in the stills they showed me, so I complied. I spoke to a counsellor about it shortly after and while I wasn’t totally traumatized, I did disclose that I felt like I was betrayed and ultimately disappointed.
All of the victims were scarcely involved in the trials, and it did feel like a battle was lost for good when he was first acquitted. However, good people fought harder for us and it has finally paid off. He has been convicted of voyeurism by the Supreme Court.
In my opinion, which I’m more than sure reflects the feelings of the rest of the victims as well, he didn’t just deserve to lose the battle, he earned it after he traded in his integrity for voyeurism.