Portugal Archives | Stop Street Harassment

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.”