Jessica O’Donnell | Reporter
In France, new laws are being introduced under President Emmanuel Macron’s tactics to effectively deal with men who harass women in public.
The President has been interviewed regarding the announcement of the new law, and in his first television interview, according to the BBC, he said: “his government would take steps to better define acts of sexual violence under the law.”
Marlène Schiappa, the Gender Equality Minister, has begun publicly speaking about her future plans on the issue surrounding street harassment and how to confront the problem. The law will include fining men who present lascivious behaviour and catcall women in public spaces. Schiappa backs up the law’s conditions, in an interview with RTL Radio, as she states in the interview “It is completely necessary because at the moment street harassment is not defined in the law.”
Particularly at this time in media news, with the sex allegations towards Harvey Weinstein and celebrities in television coming forward with their own sexual assault accounts, encouraging young women who have been assaulted to speak up, it has resurfaced disputes surrounding male sex offences on women in France.
With more women speaking up about assault this has not just encouraged the ‘#MeToo’ trend on Twitter for women to share their experiences, but also the ‘#balancetonporc’ trend for the women of France.
Not only has campaigns on social media surfaced to target the issue but, on daytime television and news outlets, many women and men have come forward and shared their story. In particular, Loose Women’s Penny Lancaster who recalled her traumatic experience in her interview on Loose Women and Tom Jones and his understanding of harassment in the music industry. Ms Lancaster explained how the attack happened. On her way to a fashion event with a designer, he told her that he needed to pick up something from his home before heading to the event; drinks were spiked and before she knew it she woke up to him taking advantage of her. With Tom Jones, he has stated in an interview with the BBC that “what’s tried on women is tried on men as well” and “There’s always been that element there that people with power sometimes abuse it”. These statements and stories were produced as they were prompted by the news of sexual allegations in Hollywood by Harvey Weinstein.
For the President of France, with the cooperation of the Gender Equality Minister, to introduce the law at this time of uprising against assault, is a brilliant way of getting this widespread issue identified, and soon to be dealt with effectively to officially stop harassment in France.
