Men who wolf-whistle could be fined up to £656 in France under new law
France might have some of the rudest people on the planet but they've got some mighty fine bread and some pretty epic wine. They've also just brought in a new law that is pretty fucking cool that all countries need to adopt. The new law will soon make it illegal for men to wolf-whistle or cat-call women and those who do so could get slapped with a hefty fine.
In a drive to stamp out sexual harassment, cat-callers and aggressively lechy pervs could be hit with on-the-spot penalties ranging from £80 to £656. The law isn't just aimed at dudes either, as sometimes women can be just as creepy. Although lets face, it's clearly going to be 95% men.
The bill proposes to issue on the spot fines for behaviour such as lewd comments, wolf-whistling, following women, pestering them for their phone number and blocking their path. So basically if you’re acting like an aggressive rapey weirdo then you're probably going to get fined. While most people are all for it, there have been some that are strongly opposed to the new law, including politician Emmanuelle Menard who had this to say:
It is a witch-hunt against men.It’s going to outlaw a certain bawdy behaviour which cannot be compared to harassment.
I mean I get what she's saying, there are definitely grey areas. There will always be people who abuse the system. I'd be worried about some spiteful women that would try to get a guy in shit because he looked at her. But on the flip side, dudes that follow women or block their path deserve to be punished. That shit can be quite scary when you're alone. I guess we just have to see how this plays out. France is the testing ground - if it works there, other countries will adopt the same law.
