Narratives surrounding "le harcèlement de rue" in francophone Belgium: initial results

Katharina Seeber - Doctorante au CIRTES

Résumé :
The presentation will discuss initial results and analyses of a study, which aimed at understanding the wider perspectives and narratives surrounding le « harcèlement de rue », i.e. street harassment, in francophone Belgium. Scholars such as Fileborn and Vera-Gray have previously pointed out the discrepancies in definitions and namings when it comes to street harassment. This leads to difficulties in harmonising research results and analyses, as well as policy responses regarding how street harassment is being dealt with, including from a legal perspective. While Vera-Gray has theorised the term to be a « men's stranger intrusion », and Gayet-Viaud coined it an « incivility », the societal or « colloquial » perspectives of what street harassment entails, how people define it, both in terms of victims and non-victims, and whom is concerned, are currently underexplored. What Vera-Gray's theorising of street harassment as an intrusion - based on the reframing of previous work on violence against women - and Gayet-Viaud's ethnographic fieldwork, and consequent framing street harassment as incivilities, have in common, is that both are largely top-down definitions and namings of street harassment. In order to deepen the understanding of street harassment, the research undertaken in this study wishes to take a bottom-up approach, by providing an examination of the popular expression of "le harcèlement de rue" in francophone Belgium, as well as narratives surrounding it. The presentation will showcase preliminary results and analyses based on observations conducted on an interactive exhibition, which hoped to shed awareness on street harassment, and data from questionnaires handed out during the exhibition.

La présentation sera en anglais mais les questions-réponses pourront être en français.