Should men be punished for whistling at women?

“Sans oui, c’est interdit”, “Solo sì es sì” and “Only yes means yes”. Across Europe, a profound change is taking place in our understanding of sexual violence. According to the National Council and public discourse, Switzerland seems to want to follow suit on this issue. France implemented the consent rule last year, Spain in March. Switzerland now faces a new vote by the Council of States in February. So far, 14 countries in Europe have agreed to a revision of the law. In addition to the line “Only yes is yes”, there is also discussion about the criminal consequences of unsolicited sexual “comments” on the street. These range from loud to embarrassing to inhumane. This behavior is also known as “catcalling”. In France and Spain it has been concluded that clear prohibitions are necessary for such attacks, in Germany and Switzerland such attempts are still pending or have already been rejected.

While the consent regime is an important step in the right direction, “it must be said that Switzerland has not yet done justice to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. I would also feel that verbal sexual harassment i.e. calling out has yet to be addressed. Small tolerated transgressions create a climate or environment that facilitates serious transgressions. In any case, catcalling seriously limits freedom of movement and the sense of security,” says Julia Küng, co-chair of the Young Greens. A slight opposition can be found from SP alderman Tamara Funiciello: “You can regulate catcalling by law, but you don’t have to. That means: We don’t end gender-based violence simply by writing everything down. This requires further efforts in many different areas: working with offenders, education and information, and better support for victim protection and women’s shelters. »