Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Portugal’s Law Against Street Harassment

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Via Equal Times:
“In 2015 Portugal’s Social Democratic Party made verbal sexual abuse a crime, carrying a prison sentence of up to a year.
 
“Whoever harasses another person, practising before her acts exhibitionist in character, formulating proposals of a sexual tenor or embarrassing her with contact of a sexual nature, is punished with a penalty of imprisonment of a year, or a penalty fine of up to 120 euros if a more serious penalty is not applicable under any other legal provision,” reads the new wording of Article 170 of the penal code.
 
Ferreira Leite co-authored a report after Portugal became the first country to ratify the Istanbul Convention– by which the Council of Europe sets out standards to protect victims of gender-based violence – in 2013. She was also involved in advocating for amendments to Article 170.
 
“Before, sexual contact was included but it was restrictive. You had to touch the victim, so we decided to include threatening and intrusive comments,” says Ferreira Leite.
 
She says she has been surprised by some of the reactions to the amendments.
 
“Some men think that [harassment] means freedom of speech. That it is a compliment and that they shouldn’t have to walk around silent.”
 
But the amended law has its limits, Leite explains. “Not every comment is a crime; it has to have sexual context or a pornographic reference. Saying that someone is pretty doesn’t count….

The necessity for a measure to combat verbal abuse toward women was first proposed by the non-profit organisation UMAR (Union of Women for Alternatives and Answers), which received funding in 2010 from the Dutch government to travel around the country and raise awareness of the issue.

“We found that most women had been verbally assaulted on the street and also that both men and women confused sexual assault with seduction or praise,” says UMAR head Maria Jose Magalhaes. “They didn’t know what assault was. There was an idea that it wasn’t serious because sexism is so ingrained in our culture.”

The radical Left Bloc party – which was founded by four feminists and whose leader, Catarina Martins, is the only woman leader amongst Portugal’s major parties – took the discussion of verbal assault to parliament in 2014.

Left Bloc MP and sociologist Sandra Cunha says the law was necessary to show that sexual assault is unacceptable.”

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OCAC Chile Supports an Anti-Street Harassment Law

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Sharing via an e-mail from OCAC Chile:

“By sharing an impactful video, OCAC Chile (Chilean Observatory Against Street Harassment) aims to promote a bill for preventing street harassment. In a non-expected way, the video shows that girls start being harassed in public spaces when they are 10 years old. The organization is calling on civil society from all around the world to sign a petition to support the local bill. The petition can be signed here.

The Respeto Callejero bill was recently approved by the Chilean Citizen Security Commission of the Lower House and now will be discussed by the Constitution Commission.”

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Anti-sexual harassment law finalized in Saudi Arabia

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Image via Arabian Business

The Shura Council in Saudi Arabia has finalized the draft of an anti-sexual harassment law that they started working on in December. Before the law can become legislation, it must be approved by the 150-member Shura Council within 30 days. Then it will go to ruler King Abdullah, who has the ultimate say.

Via The Saudi Gazette:

“The law classifies harassment violations and imposes penalties ranging from warnings and reprimands to fines, lashes and jail, Dr. Fadil was quoted by Al-Eqtisadiya Arabic newspaper as saying.

Dr. Fadil also said that the Council suggested that emirates of regions be responsible for enforcing the law; however, this suggestion is being revised and the Council will appoint another body to discover violations and enforce the law.

“We need such law in the light of the fact that women labor force has increased. Besides, directives allowing young men to enter malls have been issued recently. The law will fight any form of sexual harassment and put an end to it.”

The law regulates mixed environments where men and women interact whether in workplaces, malls or other places and protects freedoms safeguarded by Islam, Dr. Fadil pointed out.”

All of this sounds fine, better in some respects than what we have in the United States since public spaces are included i the law. In the United States, our sexual harassment laws are restricted to schools that receive federal funds and to workplaces.

But then, this part of the article threw me off:

“The law calls for separating men and women in workplaces including public facilities such as recreational areas, restrooms etc.”

Wait, so they are going to further gender segregate people? Is this one step forward, two steps back?

What do people who are familiar with Saudi culture and laws think about this proposed law?

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Scotland Street Harassment Law

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According to the TimesOnline:

“Building-site workers who wolf-whistle and shout obscene remarks at passing females risk being placed on the sex offenders register under new laws.

The Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill will create a new offence of ‘communicating indecently’, punishable by up to 10 years in jail.

The legislation is intended to punish sexual harassment by text, e-mails and letters, but ministers also aim to include sexually explicit comments to strangers.

It is expected that the law would only apply to persistent offenders.

At the moment, workmen who repeatedly make obscene comments to passers-by can be convicted of a breach of the peace.

Under the new law, if a woman has been verbally harassed on more than one occasion by a workman despite making her displeasure known, a procurator fiscal could pursue a charge of communicating indecently against the perpetrator. Those convicted would automatically be placed on the sex offenders register.”

It’s great that Scotland is recognizing the seriousness of street harassment by legislating against it! The downside of this law (and any other law I’ve seen relating to street harassment) is the unrealistic aspect. I wonder how often will the street harassment be exactly this kind of scenario? How frequently will the person being harassed be able to identify the harasser and prove that he has harassed her multiple times after she has stated her displeasure with it? Maybe things are different in Scotland but my experiences with street harassment have never been like that. They’ve all been one time deals by men I don’t know and would probably have a hard time ever finding again or identifying, especially when I’m harassed by guys in passing vehicles.

While I applaud Scotland for indicating street harassment is socially unacceptable through this legislation, I still think that a multi-layered approach (including legal recourse when applicable) is necessary in trying to end street harassment.

For anyone interested in laws and street harassment, may I recommend a few resources:

  1. Cynthia Grant Bowman’s article “Street Harassment and the Informal Ghettoization of Women“
  2. Tiffanie Heben’s article “A Radical Reshaping of the Law: Interpreting and Remedying Street Harassment”
  3. Laura Beth Nielsen’s book License to Harass: Law, Hierarchy, and Offensive Public Speech
  4. Massachusetts School of Law discussion about street harassment and the law (25 minute video)
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