Verbalize the street harassment: a false good idea?
“On
the one hand there is consented seduction , on the other sexual assault, an offense where women can
file a complaint. In-between the two there is a gray area”
llustration of a woman walking on pedestrian crossing
in Paris,
January 17, 2017 - LIONEL BONAVENTURE /AFP
In order to fight against street
harassment, the Secretary of State for
Equality between Women and Men, Marlene Schiappa, plans to remove it from the
jurisdictional gray area by giving it a legal definition. The purpose of this
proposal is to directly verbalize these behaviors, thanks to the presence of 10
000 local police on patrol, deployed throughout the territory. The ambition of
the Secretary to sanction the "street harassment" is unanimous, but
many voices doubt the legal effectiveness of a verbalization in the public
space.
The first major obstacle is distinguishing
what is or is not street harassment. Marlene Schiappa's definition differs, for
example, significantly from that of feminist associations on whether a whistle
constitutes as a street harassment. The second problem is proof: for the
assault to be recognized, it must take place before the eyes of a police
officer or that the victim leads his attacker to them, which is unlikely, and
few victims react instantly as they are stunned. The
secretary responds: "Primacy to the words of the victim", while
recalling the existence of the presumption of innocence, which verbalization
does not take into account.
This question is not new. It reflects
the transformation of feminist mobilizations that, since the 1970s, denounce
the control of women's bodies exercised by men in public spaces, that is to say
in the street, but also in other open spaces. In 2014, Belgium passed a law
against sexism in the public space, but it turned out to be counterproductive. The
complaint is very weak since, as for other attacks on women's bodies, the
burden of proof continues to fall on them
It’s known that the behaviuor of police
officers and statements about victims are one of the causes of the very low
number of complaints filed in cases of sexual assault or rape. We also receive
testimonials from people who have been harassed directly by police officers on
the job. We therefore strongly
doubt the implementation of victims’ primacy of words in the facts. We can
legitimately ask ourselves the question of the desire to penalize, even though
this government's drastic budget cuts will affect feminist associations
promoting women's rights.
Another problem is the category:
harassment “in the street”, by a category of people - the men of the unfavorable
and racial classes - who will be considered particularly problematic. However, it
also exists in companies, universities or places of leisure, and even in their
homes and we know that young men of those classes are already, more than
others, under the control and the violence of the police. It is therefore
legitimate to worry that this new offense will reinforce this state of affairs.
«Rather than burdening
the criminal law by an ineffective incrimination (...), perhaps it would be
more appropriate to further raise awareness of the problem of sexism to police
personnel and justice personnel », suggests the doctor of law of the University
of Angers, Jimmy Charruau. Moreover, we are convinced that repression cannot be
self-sufficient: we must develop means of action in the field of prevention,
awareness-raising and education at the national level.
Whereas, it is important to bring into
common law the idea that there are no small offenses. It is not acceptable that
half of the population feels the need to change sidewalks, to adapt the way
they dress, not to come back too late to avoid unpleasant behavior. «What
concerns the law on street harassment is the affirmation of society's
principles. Would not it be the time to rebuild a citizenship of the street,
which we would have lately lost a little», rejoices Marine Stoll, member of the
association Stop street harassment.
Ailin He
Ningwei Xie
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