Rabat – A scene of street sexual harassment filmed in Tangier, northern Morocco, and widely shared on social media platforms has provoked the outrage of netizens across Morocco.
A young woman walking the streets in broad daylight, was followed by two young men, with one filming the scene while the second approached the woman from behind.
One of the harassers then lifted the woman’s skirt, assaulted her and ran away while laughing.
The video has provoked indignation and outrage across Morocco, with many public personalities sharing the footage and requesting the urgent intervention of authorities.
A group of instagram pages dedicated to the fight against sexual harassment have collectively called on their followers to help identify the perpetrator, stating that “we have irrefutable evidence (the video) provided by the aggressor himself.”
Netizens on social media were utterly outraged by the footage, with a user sarcastically calling it “a new upgrade to sexual harassment in Morocco, as now you run the risk of harassment despite being accompanied by a man.”
Women expressed their frustrations when the video came out. One instagram user said: “This is why in Morocco, and as a woman, you are constantly scared and anxious while outside.”
Many other female netizens called out the constant threat of sexual harassment women undergo on Moroccan streets. “It truly does not matter what you wear or who you’re with, as a woman living in Morocco you leave your house with the anticipation and expectation you’ll be harassed in the street,” one facebook user said.
A feminist activist and women’s rights defendor told Morocco World News that such reprehensible male behaviors continue on Moroccan streets because the usual legal punishment, if the behavior is ever punished at all, “is not severe enough.”
She said, “Despite the existence of legislation that punishes such acts, it is not severe enough, hence the importance of the social media outrage, which we hope will shed light on this case and allow the victim some justice.”
The case of the Tangier video is even more indicative of the lack of appropriate legal deterrent to sexual offenders, the activist argued. She said of the video: “The perpetrator seems proud of his premeditated act, as he filmed and shared the video on social media platforms, showing his face in the process, and celebrating his indecent act; he therefore deserves for his face to be widely shared on social media, and for people to identify him and report him to competent authorities.”
In Morocco, where nearly two out of three women are victims of sexual harassment in public places, the touching of women and girls on public transport is frequent – while men, both adults and adolescents, act with great impunity.
Moroccan law, however, is new to condemning sexual harassment committed in public spheres.
Following a decade of debate and controversy, Law 103-13 criminalizing street sexual harassment finally came into force on September 12, 2018.
But, pointed out the activist who talked to Morocco World News, the measures provided in the reform are conditional on the filing of a complaint. For her, this is often difficult for victims who fear judgement and have little faith in authorities to prosecute the harassers.
Measures to combat harassment in public places are provided for, including penalties ranging from one to three years’ imprisonment or a fine of MAD 2000 to MAD 10,000.
These measures apply not only to street harassment, but also to sexual comments made or sent by text, voice mail or even through photos.
But the insufficient implementation of all these measures have continued to fuel the outrage of women’s rights activists, with many wondering whether authorities – and society at large – even take the continued plight of Moroccan women seriously.
