Women in the southern French city of Lyon are reportedly facing sexual harassment from men on a near-daily basis. They go without make-up, change their preferred attire, and even avoid certain areas of the city to live their daily lives in peace.
Several women have shared their experiences living in the city and having their mobility hampered, whether travelling by public transport or simply walking down the street. They told the news platform Actu about their day-to-day lives in Lyon.
A 25-year-old female resident of the city, speaking under the pseudonym Aline, said she had lived in the city for seven years and that harassment has always been part of her experience there.
She added that much of the hostility comes from men who meet certain profiles, saying they are typically “young men, aged 17 to 25, with an immigrant background, alone, or in large groups.”
Another young woman, a 23-year-old given the pseudonym Emilie, stated that she has lived in Lyon for around four years and as soon as she moved to France’s third-largest city, she was inundated with insults and inappropriate remarks.
“I experienced this right away. I used to put on pretty skirts, not necessarily very short,” she said and claimed she had been followed and insulted. “Very quickly, I changed my outfits, now I dress like a bag. I have already been insulted as a miscreant, a dirty whore,” she said.
“I wear very wide joggers, big sweaters, very wide pants. And in the summer, when I have the opportunity to go on holiday, I leave Lyon … I manage to be brave sometimes and dress as I want but I get insulted every time,” she added.
The 23-year-old said that many bystanders simply do nothing when they see women being harassed as they are frightened the harassers may be armed with knives. When someone does intervene, that person is usually another woman.
Women have adopted several strategies to avoid harassment. They forego makeup and avoid certain areas, like the neighbourhoods of La Guillotière, Place Bellecour, Vaise, and Terreaux.
A third young woman named Maria, aged 21, stated that she carried tear gas constantly with her saying, “I know it’s illegal but I never let it go.”
The situation in Lyon is not unique for women in France, as reports of sexual harassment and sex attacks have been a problem across the country for several years.
A 2017 study found that 56% of women in the Paris region felt afraid to use the region’s public transit system due to thefts and sex attacks, while a study released earlier this year showed around 46% of the French public overall felt unsafe travelling on public transit.
Migrants and those with migrant backgrounds make up a disproportionate number of those behind the sex attacks and violent thefts. An undercover Paris police officer working on the public transit system said in 2018 that the majority of attackers he arrested came from North African countries.
A 2021 report by the French Interior Ministry revealed that non-French migrants were behind as many as 80% of the thefts on public transit in the Paris region and around 62% of the cases of sexual violence.
In Saint-Denis, one of the suburbs of Paris and part of the Paris region, a group of female archaeologists were subjected to insults and harassment over their clothing last month, with the harassers also allegedly coming from North African backgrounds.
The issue in Saint-Denis became so hostile for the women that the local city government put up posters asking residents to show respect to the women and their work.
