2023-12-23 06:13:00
Marie, a theater student, explains that during a recent case of street harassment, she tried to ignore and deny her attacker. The result was a torrent of insults. Whistling and honking are common in the neighborhood where she studies. But Marie explains that group dynamics can change things. “I have a friend who dares to get into it, who is not afraid to react and stand up. I admire him, she confides. If all women dared to react like that, I think men would think twice before harassing us in the street.”
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Eighty-three percent of women say they have already experienced street harassment
Like the two young women who testified for La Libre, a large majority of women under 34 experience regular harassment in our country. A situation which pushes almost all of them (97%) to adapt their behavior to be less bothered in public spaces. This is what reveals a study by Stand Up Against Street Harassment, carried out in collaboration with the Belgian association Touche Pas A Ma Pote, which fights against street harassment against women.
Some go so far as to include a defensive object (pepper spray, brass knuckles, etc.) in their bag. In total, according to the survey, one in five women has already been followed in the street in Belgium and one in three in Brussels. Four out of five women also say they have already been victims of street harassment.
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The Milquet law has not really changed the situation
These figures are recent. The observation is not new, however. Already in 2012, the documentary “Femme de la rue” by Sophie Peeters exposed the harassment suffered by women in Brussels. It shocked public opinion and provoked a significant wave of reactions in the political class. With the consequence in May 2014 of the adoption of a law aimed at combating sexism in the public space, known as the “Milquet Law”.
Except that since the strengthening of the legal arsenal against sexism, convictions against street harassers have become rare. Only eight legal cases for street harassment have been opened, and three of them found a violation of the sexism law. For lawyer Chloé Leroy, several factors can explain this ineffectiveness of the Milquet law. First, the law provides that the victim must be able to prove the facts. In the case of a horn or street whistle, this is almost impossible.
Then, the law on sexism operates on the basis of a complaint. Something very few women – if any – do when they are victims of street harassment. The Schiappa Law in France, for example, provides that the police can draw up a report in the event of flagrante delicto. This possibility was also proposed by the Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Marie-Colline Leroy (Ecolo), as part of a future update of the law on sexism.
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