Since the Harvey Weinstein scandal erupted in the US, the country of Simone de Beauvoir has had its own, cruder version of the #MeToo campaign that has prompted women around the world to share personal experiences of sexual harassment on social media. “#Balancetonporc” — literally “rat out your pig” — has encouraged women to name and shame their harassers or attackers.
Aside from the flood of anonymous accounts suggesting widespread sexism and worse in French corporate life, the media, politics and the art world, a handful of public figures — including two MPs and a former interior minister under François Mitterrand — have been exposed and targeted by legal action. Most have denied the allegations. One MP has apologised.
The initiative was criticised for being too aggressive. Bernard-Henri Lévy, the intellectual, disliked the word “pig”. Perhaps more worryingly, prominent male members of Emmanuel Macron’s government have highlighted the big cultural challenge in France when it comes to treating the issue seriously — even after French women have come out in greater numbers against sexual misbehaviour in recent years.
Asked whether sexual harassers should be exposed, interior minister Gérard Collomb replied: “Yes, it depends”, adding that flirting and sexual harassment were two different things. Bruno Le Maire, France’s finance minister, said on the radio that he would never report a sexual harasser if he encountered one because “denunciation isn’t part of my political history”.
I took an online test on sexual harassment and assault. I got fewer than half the answers correct
Within seconds, Mr Le Maire was reminded on social media that he had a legal obligation to report any harasser, and within a few hours, he posted a video to say he had “misspoken”. Mr Collomb, too, has since corrected his initial response.
The blunders reveal the state of confusion in France over what counts as sexual harassment. A 2014 survey showed that three-quarters of French people were unable to differentiate between “seduction” and “harassment”.
This requires some mental work from women too — myself included. It took me more than a decade, and a public call last year from female colleagues for an end to pervasive misconduct in French politics, to realise that I, too, put up with inappropriate behaviour as a business journalist. I wrote a column detailing sexual advances, including from a top French banker and a finance ministry executive minutes after our first work meeting. For a long time I had treated those incidents lightly, as minor nuisances.
Growing up and working in France, I just assumed such acts were not so reprehensible. While my British and US colleagues were — rightly — shocked, I had been annoyed and learnt to shrug them off. Last week I took an online test on sexual harassment and assault. I got fewer than half the answers correct. Notably, I viewed a case that was deemed to be sexual assault from a legal point of view as harassment.
I am evolving, and so is France, partly thanks to another member of Mr Macron’s government: Marlène Schiappa, the gender equality minister. The 34-year-old, who gained notoriety for her blog on working mothers, is preparing legislation against street harassment and has named and shamed companies that fail to promote women.
Last week, she announced an online campaign called “Let’s stop them!” with examples like the following: “He rubbed himself against a young girl on the bus. He is facing five years in prison and a €75,000 fine”; “He posted a photo of his ex-girlfriend naked on social media. He is facing 2 years in prison and a €60,000 fine.”
I watched Ms Schiappa outline her plans to MPs in the National Assembly, nearly half of whom are now, thanks to the political novices in Mr Macron’s party, women. A man shouted in the background. “Oh calm your nerves!” — she snapped, rolling her eyes with a smile. After her speech, the room erupted in applause. Her self-assured humour is the best defence, I thought. I wish I was given warnings and tips on how to combat sexism when I was growing up. Now French girls will be able to get them from women like Ms Schiappa.
anne-sylvaine.chassany@ft.com
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