France outlaws lewd cat-calls to women in public amid attack uproar
Paris — France voted to outlaw sexual harassment on the streets, leaving cat-callers and aggressively lecherous individuals facing potential on-the-spot fines of up to €750 as part of tougher legislation to fight sexual violence. Lawmakers approved the law in a second reading late on Wednesday, days after outrage erupted in France after a man attacked a young woman, Marie Laguerre, when she responded to lewd noises he made at her outside a Paris cafe. "Harassment in the street has previously not been punished. From now on, it will be," Marlene Schiappa, gender equality minister and architect of the new legislation, told Europe 1 radio on Thursday. An early draft of the bill had said that minors under 15 would be assumed not to have given consent to sex with an older person, but the new law states that sex between an adult and a person of 15 or under can be considered rape if the younger party was judged not competent to give consent. France’s highest legal authority, the Conseil d’É...
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