#ExposeYourPig: French women name harassers online
Victims of abuse in France take the #MeToo campaign further as they name and shame harassers and urge others to "expose your pig".
Friday 20 October 2017 06:27, UK
French women have been shaming sexual predators online, replacing the #MeToo campaign with the hashtag #BalanceTonPorc 鈥� or 鈥渆xpose your pig鈥�.
Twitter users have been sharing their stories of sexual harassment following the initiative launched by a French journalist in New York.
It follows the #MeToo campaign, which saw thousands of people recount experiences of being verbally abused, molested, groped or raped.
The latest hashtag however, takes the movement a step further with victims naming their alleged attackers.
One woman spoke about an encounter with a photographer.
She wrote: "A photographer told me 'we could do the photos, or we could just have sex'."
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Another woman wrote: "One bouncer rescued me from a guy in a nightclub, only to then say he deserved a kiss for his trouble."
Marlène Schiappa, France's minister of gender equality, hailed the campaign.
"Twitter cannot replace legal action but it is a first step for many women," she said.
"Anything that allows women to talk is a good method.
"I understand that being behind a screen can make it easier to put extremely difficult issues into words."
The outpouring of people talking about their experiences with sexual harassment comes after Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein was accused of harassing or assaulting more than 40 women.
He has "unequivocally denied" the claims against him and has not been charged with any offence.
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Ms Schiappa announced plans for a new law against sexual harassment and violence that would fine men for behaviour such as wolf-whistling.
"There are 220,000 incidents of sexual assault and 84,000 of rape per year (in France)," the politician said. "Those numbers have got to come down."
Prominent feminist and entrepreneur Marie Beauchesne spoke out about harassment in the French capital.
She said: "I've lived in Paris for five years and already been physically assaulted twice, and I've lost count of the number of insults and marriage proposals."
But some have slammed the movement, saying it focuses on revenge and shaming rather than the legislative process.
French actress Catherine Deneuve told magazine Valeurs Actuelles she thought the campaign was "disgusting".
She added: "Does it contribute anything? Will it solve the problem?"