France may ban wolf-whistles under macho curbs
FRANCE: Men would face prosecution in France for following women and repeatedly asking for their telephone number under government plans to outlaw the country’s macho culture.
Marlene Schiappa, the undersecretary for gender equality, set up a working party to draw up legislation that will make it a criminal offence to harass someone in a public place. It could include wolf-whistling.
The working party of five MPs has been asked to provide a legal definition of street harassment and to decide what penalties offenders should face.
The crackdown follows the publication of surveys showing that virtually all French women have been harassed at some time.
President Emmanuel Macron pledged to end the plague during his election campaign this year. Some lawyers say the offence will be difficult to prove.
Schiappa said recently there was a legislative void in France between ‘‘consensual seduction, which is legal, and sexual assault, which is an offence’’. She said the void left men free to behave in a heavy-handed manner that women often found oppressive.
She gave an example of behaviour that would be outlawed under the legislation: ‘‘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.’’
Only a few countries, including Belgium and Portugal, have introduced legislation to ban such behaviour. Britain and others have broader laws against harassment in general.
Some lawyers believe men should only be prosecuted when police officers witness an offence. Others say women should be able to file criminal lawsuits against offenders at a later date.
Gilles-William Goldnadel, a lawyer, accused Schiappa of seeking to outlaw ‘‘heavy Latin chat-up lines’’. He said the only consequences of the law would be to enrich feminist lawyers and to clog up the court system.