"Should You Catcall Her?" A Reprisal
You’d be hard-pressed to find a woman or femme in the United States that hasn’t experienced street harassment. In fact, one could argue that there’s nothing more American than being on the receiving end of a “hey baby!” as you make your way to your local Starbucks for a fat-filled frappuccino. But French Minister Marlene Schiappa is attempting to put an end to catcalling—a cultural epidemic that isn’t just a good ol’ U.S. of A problem. This week, French lawmakers banned catcalling and public sexual harassment in an attempt to make it safer for French women to leave their homes and go about their lives, and after a video of a woman being attacked by a stress harasser went viral.
According to CNN, those who catcall or sexually harass the women of France can face on-the-spot fines as low as €90 and as high as €750 (about $870). “Every woman has experienced that situation,” Schiappa told CNN. “Going to work, in the subway, on the bus, between her home and the office, she’s been followed by men, she’s been asked her number, she’s been asked to talk.”
Sound familiar, ladies?
The new law is expected to take effect in September, and while it would be difficult to implement —Benjamin Griveaux, a spokesperson for the French government, admitted that it would be difficult to “catch catcallers in the act”—it signifies a shift in how at least one country’s culture defines, and tolerates, sexual harassment. A shift that’s impossible to fathom occurring in the United States, especially given our current political climate.
That’s not to say, of course, that France’s problems with sexual assault, harassment and domestic violence have vanished as a result of this new piece of legislation. According to a 2018 study for the Foundation Jean Jaurés, one out of every eight women in France has been raped. The same study found that 43 percent of French women have been subjected to unwanted sexual touching, and 58 percent received disturbing propositions. A simple law that will be hard to enforce won’t change rape culture overnight, but it does send an unmistakable, necessary message to men. (Guys, if you need a refresher on when it's totally appropriate to catcall, take a gander at Playboy's handy flowchart.)
Sound familiar, ladies?
The new law is expected to take effect in September, and while it would be difficult to implement —Benjamin Griveaux, a spokesperson for the French government, admitted that it would be difficult to “catch catcallers in the act”—it signifies a shift in how at least one country’s culture defines, and tolerates, sexual harassment. A shift that’s impossible to fathom occurring in the United States, especially given our current political climate.
That’s not to say, of course, that France’s problems with sexual assault, harassment and domestic violence have vanished as a result of this new piece of legislation. According to a 2018 study for the Foundation Jean Jaurés, one out of every eight women in France has been raped. The same study found that 43 percent of French women have been subjected to unwanted sexual touching, and 58 percent received disturbing propositions. A simple law that will be hard to enforce won’t change rape culture overnight, but it does send an unmistakable, necessary message to men. (Guys, if you need a refresher on when it's totally appropriate to catcall, take a gander at Playboy's handy flowchart.)
A simple law that will be hard to enforce won’t change rape culture overnight, but it does send an unmistakable, necessary message to men.
Flowchart: Should You Catcall Her?
Find out whether or not you should spit that long-distance game
That’s not a message Americans are likely to hear from their elected officials anytime soon. Instead, we have a president who mocked the #MeToo movement during a political rally, endorsed an alleged pedophile who ran for office in Alabama, defended a former White House official accused of domestic violence, and has himself been accused of sexual assault and/or harassment by over a dozen women. NBC News highlighted eight prominent political figures who were accused of sexual assault in the wake of the #MeToo movement, including former president George H.W. Bush and former Senator Al Franken.
Instead of a president who takes accusations of sexual assault and harassment seriously, we have a leader who once argued that his own accusers were “too unattractive” for him to assault, and has, on numerous occasions, urged us all to remember that those accused of sexual assault or domestic violence “deny” the allegations and, as a result, we have to listen to them.
The leader of the free world has interrupted a call with the prime minister of Ireland to tell a female reporter that she had a nice smile, kissed another female reporter without her consent, and told yet another female reporter to “be quiet” because she was “obnoxious.” And in case anyone is in danger of assuming this type of atrocious leadership is a new problem, in 2012, GOP Senate nominee Todd Akin assured voters that if a woman was “legitimately raped” she wouldn’t become pregnant because the “female body has ways to try and shut that whole thing down.”
One out of every six American women will be raped in their lifetime. Every 98 seconds an American is sexually assaulted. A reported 81 percent of women have been sexually harassed, and rates are higher for women of color and trans women. Sexually assaulting, harassing and physically abusing women is as American as apple pie and baseball games, and as long as this country fails to go by the way of France and actually do something about a systemic problem that impacts 51 percent of the population, the United States will never be anything more than the land of the abused and the home of the abuser.
Instead of a president who takes accusations of sexual assault and harassment seriously, we have a leader who once argued that his own accusers were “too unattractive” for him to assault, and has, on numerous occasions, urged us all to remember that those accused of sexual assault or domestic violence “deny” the allegations and, as a result, we have to listen to them.
The leader of the free world has interrupted a call with the prime minister of Ireland to tell a female reporter that she had a nice smile, kissed another female reporter without her consent, and told yet another female reporter to “be quiet” because she was “obnoxious.” And in case anyone is in danger of assuming this type of atrocious leadership is a new problem, in 2012, GOP Senate nominee Todd Akin assured voters that if a woman was “legitimately raped” she wouldn’t become pregnant because the “female body has ways to try and shut that whole thing down.”
One out of every six American women will be raped in their lifetime. Every 98 seconds an American is sexually assaulted. A reported 81 percent of women have been sexually harassed, and rates are higher for women of color and trans women. Sexually assaulting, harassing and physically abusing women is as American as apple pie and baseball games, and as long as this country fails to go by the way of France and actually do something about a systemic problem that impacts 51 percent of the population, the United States will never be anything more than the land of the abused and the home of the abuser.
