Not mere words. A threat is qualitatively different from a comment.
They are not talking about
one comment.
The crackdown on sexual harassment would mean fines for “degrading or humiliating comments” or hostile and offensive “sexual or sexist” behaviour towards a person in a public place. The minister for gender equality, Marlène Schiappa, has explained this could include situations such as men aggressively asking a woman for her phone number dozens of times when she is clear she is not interested, as well as sexual intimidation and harassment on public transport.
US media are portraying it as wolf whistles and 'hey baby' kind of comments.
I don't think people realise just how bad it is in France. Similar legislation exists in many European countries, because women are continuously harassed and intimidated in public areas.
And you might think that that comment is not threatening. But as we have seen repeatedly, how that comment is delivered, the effects it has on the recipient is threatening.
Look at the woman in France, who told one guy who made one comment, to shut up and he threw an ashtray at her head and then smacked her in the face.
"A comment" can very much be threatening.
Following a woman to make those comments is a threat and is intimidating. Harassing a woman is threatening.
Next to last paragraph :
The legislation passed just days after a French woman named Marie Laguerre
posted a shocking video of a street harasser slapping her after she told him to shut up. The unidentified man rushed towards Laguerre, threw an ashtray at her head, which just barely missed her, and then struck her in the face. The attack received international attention, with many people calling for a crackdown on street harassment.
I hope France did not need this new law in order to charge that man with aggravated assault & to consider a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.
These laws were planned before the #MeToo movement even began.
The legislation, which will be presented at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday and go to parliament in the coming months, was prepared before the sexual harassment allegations against the Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein and the #MeToo movement, but it has gained prominence since.
Because street harassment is so problematic in France. It's not just the words, but the actions of the men who do this that is so problematic. They stalk, follow, humiliate, threaten, intimidate and more often than not, resort to pinching and groping. Try being a woman on your own and catching a train or bus in Paris and get back to me about why these laws are necessary. I did that once the last time I was there years ago. I never ever ventured out on the street alone after that. I have family who live there, who do not walk alone or catch public transport alone because they are too afraid to because the harassment is so bad. As I noted above, other countries in Europe have had similar laws in place for a while now.
The video of that poor woman being hit by her harasser just drives the point home as to why such legislation is necessary.
