Montreal underage girls, some as young as 10, are being harassed by strangers in public places, reveals a report whose The duty got a copy.
“I was 12 years old, it was the first time that I was going to buy bread […] when I come back there is a car moving forward and [l’homme au volant] tells me […] Wanna fuck with me? says one of the 26 research participants. The latter is based on focus groups conducted in 2022, with residents of Greater Montreal aged 11 to 32, about street harassment suffered when they were minors. Most of them say they experienced it for the first time when they were 10 or 11 years old.
This type of harassment includes “all words and gestures committed by anonymous people in the public space which take the form of different types of violence”, explains Mélusine Dumerchat, author of the report. Street harassment against young people: from research to action. Street harassment can manifest itself in requests for sexual favors, but also insults, touching, voyeurism or exhibitionism, lists the doctoral researcher in sociology at UQAM.
Little is said about these situations experienced by young people, underlines Ms. Dumerchat, while pointing out the difficulty of having access to the words of minors on this subject.
Hence the need for research that reveals, among other things, that bullies are well aware that they are targeting teenage and preteen girls, she argues. “Several say they were harassed while they were in school uniform,” says Mélusine Dumerchat.
In broad daylight, on the way to school
According to research, stalkers are mostly in their 30s or 40s and come from different social classes. They often commit these acts in broad daylight and in certain places that minors frequent on a daily basis, such as their neighborhood or the way to school.
The older they get, the less they are harassed, the participants note. “For them, it’s linked to the fact that over time, they have developed avoidance tactics, including depriving themselves of outings. But it can also mean avoiding certain places, certain times and being constantly on your guard, ”underlines Ms. Dumerchat.
In addition to being sexist in nature, the street harassment described by participants is often also racist and grossophobic. “I can never say that I had this experience only because I am a woman and not because I am a black woman,” said one of them.
In many cases, the witnesses of these scenes do not intervene to offer their help, deplores Audrey Simard, community organizer of the Center for Education and Women’s Action, partner of the research.
A participant also says that “often, there are people, but we have the impression that they are not really there with us”. ” You feel bad. You know it’s not normal, but at the same time you think ‘yeah, but since no one reacts, maybe it’s just a compliment, it’s just normal’”, relates another .
Most of the participants say they have little confidence in the police to denounce what they have experienced, raises Mélusine Dumerchat. “We are always pushed to denounce, but denounce where and how and why, if we are never listened to? asks one of them.
They say they have often been disappointed with the reaction of adults around them in whom they have decided to confide. Rather than offering support, they will warn them not to go out at a certain time or not to dress in such a way, says Ms. Dumerchat. “As if street harassment was ultimately up to them to avoid, it was their responsibility. »
traumatized
These experiences of harassment have left marks on the participants, raises Audrey Simard. During the research, “I heard a lot of the words: trauma, traumatized, trauma until it made insomnia”, she lists.
Some say they panicked when they were harassed because they had not been equipped to defend themselves. “Several of them develop on the job, in fact self-taught, self-defense strategies,” underlines Mélusine Dumerchat.
After having experienced harassment, several participants said they were systematically wary of unknown men, reports Ms. Simard. “It started when I was 10-12 years old and already there were people who said: ‘I hated in advance all the men I met’. »
More awareness and education about street harassment is needed, say Montrealers who took part in the research. “I want it at school, because we don’t talk about it. Our parents can’t teach us everything,” said one of them.
Joined by The dutythe office of the Mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, says it is committed to “strengthening its awareness and education actions with its community and institutional partners in order to prevent these unacceptable behaviors in all public spaces”.
The results of the research are “revolting and testify to the need to collectively combat this phenomenon which has been trivialized for too long”, adds Catherine Cadotte, Ms. Plante’s main press officer.