If you’ve ever been to, heard of, or met anyone from France, you’ll know they have a bit of a, uh, thing about street harassment. Specifically, that blokes there tend to do it all the fucking time.
In fact, according to extensive surveying of the French public, nearly all women have been subject to street harassment. Nearly. ALL.
Street harassment is everything from wolf whistles, catcalls and uncouth comments to being followed, groped, masturbating in front of or on to, and hassled unrelentingly for your number.
The French under-secretary for gender equality, Marlene Schiappa, is trying to do something about this. Along with a group of MPs, she’s trying to both clearly define street harassment in the French legislation and put into place penalties for offenders. She has the support of President Emmanuel Macron.
Schiappa said in an interview that a gap exists in the current legislation between “consensual seduction, which is legal, and sexual assault, which is an offence“.
You are a woman in an underground train. I am a man. I follow you. You get off the train. I get off. You get on another train. I get on too. I ask you for your telephone number. I ask again. I ask a third time. You feel oppressed. That is street harassment.
It’s unclear at the moment how any new legislation would be enforced – some people reckon it should only be if cops happen to witness the harassment, while others are in favour of allowing women to press charges at a later date.
If enacted, France would be one of the few countries in Europe to have specific anti-street harassment laws.
We are very interested to see how this goes.
