Sexual harassment in public space: From in-difference to in-tolerance and the risk of criminalization

摘要

Frequently viewed as benign gestures or awkward attempts of seduction, until few street harassment had been ignored by scientific literature as well as by politic and mediatic scene. In July 2012, Sophie Peeters' report "Femme de la rue" is broadcasted. Highlighting ordinary sexism on the street, this story affects public opinion, arouses an important mediatic and politic mobilization in Belgium and results in the adoption of a law condemning sexist discrimination in public space. In France, the case Weinstein and the phenomenon #Balancetonporc generate multiple disclosures. Thousands of women share their stories on social networks and protests calling to fight against harassment and sexual assaults emerge. Following which, included in the plan against violence on women, the French government submits a proposal of creation of an offence of sexist contempt, targeting street harassment. In recent years similar actions have spread in Europe and all over the world. Rising awareness, disclosures with domino effect, indignation on the part of public opinion, claims and penalization; sexual harassment in public space is more than ever in the news. Notwithstanding issues regarding gender equity and access to public space, despite the ethical concerns raised by proposals of penal qualification and although many persons are exposed every day to sexual harassment in public space, few researches has addressed this topic thus far. Using self-administrated questionnaires on a large scale, our study aims to underscore specificities of sexual harassment in public space in terms of frequency, contextual features, protagonists' attributes but also in terms of associated attitudes. Results provide information about means of expression and suggest promising areas for prevention.%Par le simple fait d'être nommé, l'objet de recherche devient mesurable, quantifiable, et éventuellement modifiable. La littérature scientifique (Kissling, 1991; Vera-Gray, 2016) met en évidence la difficulté de mettre en mots l'ensemble des réalités que recouvre le concept de harcèlement sexuel dans les lieux publics, réalités faisant pourtant partie du quotidien de nombre de personnes, et surtout de femmes (Fairchild, 2010; Fairchild et Rudman, 2008). L'absence de définition exhaustive et univoque, mais également la nature même du harcèlement sexuel dans les lieux publics, survenant principalement entre inconnus au cours de rencontres brèves et fugitives, généralement de moindre gravité que d'autres types de violences sexuelles, permettent de comprendre la banalisation de ce phénomène, et le fait qu'il n'ait que rarement été abordé par la littérature scientifique, contrairement au harcèlement sexuel survenant sur le lieu de travail ou dans le contexte scolaire.