220,000 French women sexually harassed

LONDON: More than 220,000 women were sexually harassed on public transport in France over two years, the national crime statistics agency said in its first report on the subject, describing it as a “conservative estimate”.

The Harvey Weinstein scandal in the United States has accelerated a rethink of attitudes toward sexual harassment in France, a country that cherishes its self-image as the land of seduction and romance.

“Although the public mostly focuses on domestic violence, sexual violence committed on the street, on public transport or in other public places is just as serious, and merits more attention,” the report said.

France’s National Observatory of Crime and Criminal Justice (ONDRP) found that 267,000 people — 85 per cent of whom were women — were sexually harassed on public transport between 2014 and 2015, including kissing, groping, flashing and rape.

It is the first time ONDRP, which publishes an annual survey on insecurity, focused on sexual harassment on public transport.

Paris was voted the third most woman-friendly city in a Thomson Reuters Foundation survey published in October, and ranked fourth least risky for sexual violence. But harassment remains prevalent, many said on social media.

“I was spat at, called a whore... and one morning was groped by two laughing men on a crowded metro,” Siobhán Dowling said on Twitter, describing her time in Paris as a student.

“The level of everyday harassment was shocking.”

Sexual harassment on public transport was worst for women in Paris, with reports of incidents seven times higher than in the rest of France, the study found.

Most cases occurred when a train or bus was moving so victims could not flee, the study said.

“When you have closed spaces with hundreds of thousands of people and zero security agents or police, it’s no wonder that cowardly perpetrators act in total impunity,” Ikram Moustaoui said on Facebook.

French women have taken to social media to share tales of sexual harassment, outstripping the #MeToo campaign with a nameand-shame hashtag #BalanceTonPorc or “expose your pig”.

French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled measures last month aimed at educating the public and schoolchildren about sexism and violence against women and improving police support for victims.

He proposed criminalising street harassment. Reuters Syrians dressed in Santa Claus outfits roaming the streets of Damascus on the back of a decorated vehicle yesterday. Hundreds of thousands of Christians from other parts of the war-torn country have sought refuge in the Syrian capital.