At Munich's Oktoberfest, an 80-year-old ride operator has spent three years quietly handing out cycling shorts to women in dresses — a small, human gesture against a vast and impersonal harm. Tens of thousands of voyeuristic videos filmed on the Teufelsrad have circulated online, some monetized for thousands of euros, revealing how technology has transformed a mechanical quirk of an old carnival ride into a scalable instrument of violation. Germany has laws against upskirting, but advocates argue the statutes have not kept pace with the ingenuity of those who exploit them, nor with the platfor
Oktoberfest operator hands out free shorts to combat upskirting epidemic
Women at Oktoberfest have been subjected to widespread voyeuristic filming and non-consensual intimate image sharing, with their underwear and digitally-altered nude versions distributed online.
It is impossible to control everyone filming with smart phones.
Mark
Why is a ride operator handing out shorts? That seems like an odd response to a crime problem.
Mimi
Because the ride itself—the Teufelsrad—has a design flaw from a privacy perspective. It spins so fast that skirts fly up. For years, people have been filming that moment and posting it online. The operator is trying to prevent the exposure in the first place.
Luke
But here's the thing: the operator is essentially saying the women need to change their clothing to protect themselves from criminals. That's a band-aid on a much larger problem.
Mimi
True. And Polaczy knows it. She's said it's impossible to stop everyone with a phone. But she's 80 and running a ride, not a law enforcement agency. She's doing what she can within her power.
Mark
How many videos are we talking about?
Mimi
At least 32,000 have circulated. Some have been viewed millions of times. One creator made €9,000 from a single video.
Luke
And that's just what's been documented. The actual number is probably higher. Also, some of those videos have been digitally altered to show the women naked—so it's not just voyeurism, it's also image manipulation and defamation.
Mark
Is this illegal?
Mimi
Filming under someone's skirt is illegal in Germany—up to two years in prison. But advocates say the law has gaps. It doesn't cover cases where a skirt simply flies up and gets photographed.
Luke
Which is exactly what's happening on this ride. So technically, many of these videos might not violate the letter of the law, even though they're clearly violating the spirit of it.
Mark
What's Munich doing about it?
Mimi
Police have increased enforcement. They arrested someone this year, and they're running awareness campaigns. The city is also requiring filming permits and banning live streams from the festival.
Luke
That helps with future content, but it doesn't address the 32,000 videos already out there or the platforms hosting them. Hate Aid is calling for laws that punish uploaders and platforms, not just the people filming.
O Pulso
- At least 32,000 voyeuristic videos from a single Oktoberfest ride have circulated online, with one creator earning €9,000 from a single clip — turning a fairground attraction into a monetized surveillance trap.
- Digitally altered nude versions of the women filmed have also spread, compounding the violation far beyond what any camera initially captured.
- German law criminalizes deliberate upskirting but leaves a legal gap when a skirt flies up naturally, and emerging tools like camera glasses threaten to outpace enforcement entirely.
- Police arrests have risen — ten last year, seven the year before — and Bavarian officers now run awareness campaigns, but the ride's operator admits it is impossible to monitor every smartphone in the crowd.
- Munich has responded by banning live streams, requiring paid filming permits, and issuing hundreds of licenses to influencers, attempting to impose order on a festival that was never designed for the attention economy.
- A hundred pairs of free cycling shorts distributed by one determined octogenarian stand as both a practical shield and a quiet indictment of how much the burden of protection still falls on women themselves.
At Munich's Oktoberfest, an 80-year-old ride operator has spent three years quietly handing out cycling shorts to women in dresses — a small, human gesture against a vast and impersonal harm. Tens of thousands of voyeuristic videos filmed on the Teufelsrad have circulated online, some monetized for thousands of euros, revealing how technology has transformed a mechanical quirk of an old carnival ride into a scalable instrument of violation. Germany has laws against upskirting, but advocates argue the statutes have not kept pace with the ingenuity of those who exploit them, nor with the platforms that profit from the content. What unfolds at Oktoberfest is a microcosm of a wider civilizational question: in an age when a moment can be captured, altered, and sold in seconds, who holds the right to one's own image?
Elisabeth Polaczy, who runs the Teufelsrad at Munich's Oktoberfest, has spent three years doing something both simple and quietly extraordinary: handing out free cycling shorts to women and girls in dresses before they board her ride. This year she distributed more than a hundred pairs. The reason is the ride itself — a spinning platform that accelerates until riders lose their grip and fall, sending skirts flying upward — and the phones that have turned that mechanical inevitability into a content industry. At least 32,000 voyeuristic videos from the Teufelsrad have circulated online, some viewed millions of times. One creator earned €9,000 from a single clip. Investigations identified a network of professional YouTubers from Ukraine and several individuals from Bavaria behind much of the content. Some videos were digitally altered to show the women naked.
German law makes upskirting a criminal offence carrying up to two years in prison, but Josephine Ballon of Hate Aid, a nonprofit supporting victims of digital violence, told the BBC the legislation has significant gaps — it applies only when someone actively films beneath a skirt, not when a skirt rises on its own and is photographed. She also warned that camera glasses are making covert filming harder to detect, and argued that anyone uploading intimate images without consent, along with the platforms hosting them, should face legal consequences.
Enforcement has intensified. Bavarian police have run awareness campaigns at the festival since 2025, and this year arrested a 45-year-old Swiss man for filming under a woman's dirndl. Warning signs now hang inside the Teufelsrad tent in German and English. Polaczy, at 80, is clear-eyed about the limits of what she can control — "It is impossible to control everyone filming with smart phones" — but equally clear about her own obligation. "I want to do everything I can to make people feel secure."
The city of Munich has moved on a broader front, banning live streaming from the festival and requiring content creators to obtain paid permits. Hundreds of licenses have been issued to influencers this year. The measures reflect a tension that Oktoberfest has not resolved: it is a public celebration, but social media has made every attendee a potential subject, often without their knowledge or consent. The cycling shorts are an immediate, human answer to an immediate harm. The legal debates and new regulations point toward something slower and harder — a reckoning with who controls the image of a moment, and what it means when technology makes voyeurism not just possible, but profitable.
Elisabeth Polaczy, who operates the Teufelsrad at Munich's Oktoberfest, has spent the past three years handing out free cycling shorts to women and girls in dresses. This year alone, she has distributed more than a hundred pairs. The reason is straightforward and troubling: thousands of voyeuristic videos filmed on the ride have circulated across social media, many viewed millions of times, and at least one creator earned €9,000 from a single clip.
The Teufelsrad, one of Oktoberfest's oldest attractions, is a rotating platform that spins faster and faster until riders lose their grip and fall. The physics of the ride—the centrifugal force, the speed, the loss of control—sends skirts flying upward. For years, this mechanical inevitability has made the ride a target for people with phones and cameras. According to Munich's Süddeutsche Zeitung, at least 32,000 videos of women on the Teufelsrad have been in circulation. Some have been digitally altered to show the women naked, according to local broadcaster BR. Investigations by BR found that a network of professional YouTubers from Ukraine and several people from Bavaria were behind much of the content.
In Germany, filming under someone's skirt is illegal and carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison. Yet advocates and victims' rights organizations argue the law has significant gaps. Josephine Ballon, who heads Hate Aid, a German nonprofit supporting victims of digital violence, told the BBC that current legislation "applies only when you film under the skirt"—not when a skirt simply flies up and gets photographed. She also flagged emerging threats like camera glasses, which are harder to detect. Ballon's position is clear: anyone uploading intimate images of women online should face punishment, as should the platforms hosting them.
Police enforcement has increased. Since 2025, Bavarian police have run a poster campaign at Oktoberfest warning against upskirting. This year, officers arrested a 45-year-old Swiss man for filming under a woman's dirndl. Last year there were ten arrests for upskirting; in 2024, there were seven. The Teufelsrad tent itself is now hung with warning signs in German and English, and Polaczy has made clear efforts to create a safer environment. But she is realistic about the limits of her control. "It is impossible to control everyone filming with smart phones," she said. At 80 years old, Polaczy acknowledged that buying and distributing cycling shorts is not inexpensive, but she considers it essential. "I want to do everything I can to make people feel secure."
Other workers at the festival have taken similar precautions. Some waitresses have begun wearing cycling shorts under their traditional dirndls. The city of Munich, meanwhile, has moved to regulate content creators more broadly. It has banned live streaming from the festival and now requires anyone wanting to film there to obtain a permit issued by the city for a fee. Hundreds of licenses have been issued this year to influencers who earn money through product placement and sponsorships. The measure reflects a broader tension: Oktoberfest is a public festival, but the rise of social media has turned attendees into both participants and subjects, often without consent. The free shorts are a practical response to an immediate harm. The new regulations and legal debates point toward a longer reckoning about who owns the image of a moment, and what happens when technology makes voyeurism scalable.
Citações Notáveis
I want to do everything I can to make people feel secure.— Elisabeth Polaczy, Teufelsrad operator
Current legislation applies only when you film under the skirt, not when a skirt simply flies up and gets photographed.— Josephine Ballon, Hate Aid
Quer a matéria completa?
Leia o original em BBC News ↗
Politics & Governance