While the problem of verbal harassment in public spheres isn’t exactly news to me, the online buzz around the new IG account shows that the account has really struck a chord: finally someone’s shedding light on it. But what now?
@catcallsofluxembourg isn’t the first of its sort. The whole stream started in 2014 when street artist and gender activist Sophie Sandberg created the account @catcallsofnyc. She started collecting stories of women all around New York City and chalking them on the floor at the place where the situations happened, followed by the #stopstreetharassment. Since then, a plethora of women around the globe have started their own versions of the account. As of now, there’s 246 official accounts that have been approved by the organisation - amongst them, is the Luxembourgish version.
During my little research process, I also found out that, contrary to its neighbouring countries France and Belgium, catcalling as such is not illegal in Luxembourg. There’s neither fine nor jail time (yes, indeed, in Belgium the punishment for catcalling can reach up to one year of jail). And while it may seem like our neighbours are far ahead of us in the quest of stopping street harassment, the whole debate left me wondering: how effective are these laws in reality?
Further reading: RachelKatherine Lloyd - The Urban Battlefield
According to a 2015 study by the French government, 100% of women have experienced sexual harassment on the public transport. Yes, 100%... Let that sink in for a moment. Ok? Let’s continue. Three years later, the government presented a new law in this regard and recorded around 700 criminal procedures within the first year of this new legal introduction. So, sure, the law seems to have done something, but I think we can all agree on the fact that there are more than 700 women in France and considering the previously-mentioned study results, 700 criminal procedures don’t sound as impressive anymore, do they? Furthermore, ‘the website “paye ta shnek” alone recorded over 15000 testimonials within the span of a few years’.
I was recently asked by a friend if I remember any inappropriate comments made towards myself. My answer was ‘no’. Not because there weren’t any, but because the fact of being screamed after when walking on the street, has become so normal, that ignoring and forgetting the comments has just become sort of a second nature. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one, which is exactly the problem. Even if there were specific laws here in Luxembourg, how are you supposed to take legal action if you can’t even remember what was said or have the required evidence to prove it happened?
There’s this saying that dogs that bark don’t bite. Yet, when it comes to human beings, I’m not sure whether that’s actually true. I’m not saying that every person that screams after women on the street would actually cross the line of sexually and physically harassing them, but oftentimes, verbal harassment alone can be enough to cause psychological damage.
Based on our neighbouring countries’ history, I doubt that introducing specific catcalling laws would actually get rid of the whole issue here in Luxembourg, but it would definitely be a step in the right direction. As for finding a solution, I believe that, as it is often the case, it lies in education. Rather than focusing all our forces on whether and how to punish people for catcalling, why not try to raise awareness on the potential psychological consequences and teach people to respect boundaries? I’m aware that this sounds very idealistic, but we’ve tried the rest and it didn’t work. So why not give education a shot?
