Culture shift, not laws, needed to fight street harassment, expert says

Should whistling and catcalls count as hate crimes? A county in England says yes and has changed its laws to reflect that, but a Winnipeg counter-violence educator doesn't believe it would work here.

Gaz Black doesn't think Manitoba judges would recognize such actions as hate crimes and convict offenders. Instead, women who come forward looking for justice but find none could be revictimized, he said.

"I'm not against the idea of it being a hate crime. I would, though, be concerned about the idea that this is suddenly going to change anything," said Black, who runs the Best Defence Program and speaks out against street harassment.

"We've had laws [about other behaviour crimes] on the books that have done nothing to our culture."

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He points to Canada's affirmative consent law, which has been on the books since the early 1990s. Often referred to as the "yes means yes" law, it requires someone to seek permission for sex.

"But we still, as a culture, look at it as 'no means no,' which puts the onus on the person being pursued to reject [the sexual advance] rather than the person doing the pursuing to seek consent," Black said.

'False sense' of change

Similarly, making street harassment a crime would give a "false sense" that things will change, but there must be a cultural shift, not simply a legal one, said Black.

Still, he applauds the move by authorities in Nottinghamshire, England, because Winnipeg and other municipalities will benefit indirectly.

It has pushed the issue into the spotlight and has prompted conversations in other places, including Winnipeg.

"The more we talk about it, the more likely we are to change something," Black said.

The more we talk about it, the more likely we are to change something.- Gaz Black

If a woman receives unwanted attention on the street in Nottinghamshire, it can now be reported to police as a hate crime.

The police force there has become the first anywhere to ad misogyny to the definition of hate crime.

The force defines the crime as: "Incidents against women that are motivated by an attitude of a man towards a woman and includes behaviour targeted towards a woman by men simply because they are a woman."

There's no denying street harassment is an issue in Canada, where "close [to] 100 per cent of women have experienced [it]," according to Black.

However, most men deny it exists or deny ever having witnessed it or having done it, he said, adding they think it's a compliment.

"'He was just checking you out. It's not a big deal,'" is a common explanation, said Black's daughter, Chantal Black, who also does public talks about the issue.

Women wrongly blamed

She said the current cultural take on the issue is to blame it on the woman, telling her "you've got the curse of good looks" or asking her "what were you wearing?"

That's unacceptable, said Chantal Black, noting the first time she experienced street harassment was being whistled at when she was only 12.

"I'm dressed like a 12-year-old, I'm walking my dog in my own neighbourhood, and here's this guy sitting in his truck and he wants to make me feel a certain way?"

Until there is a cultural shift and the wider public recognizes such behaviour as a problem, the best way to make an immediate impact is to acknowledge it, Black said.

If people see street harassment happening, don't turn away. Instead, check with the victim first and make them feel supported, he said.

Don't turn it into an argument with the violator because that pushes the victim to the outside.