Film on street harassment making waves in Belgium

Published time: August 01, 2012 14:22
Edited time: August 01, 2012 18:22
Street harassment became the main theme of a documentary film set in Belgium

A documentary film about men harassing women on the streets of Brussels has provoked a heated debate in the country, with some calling an aspiring female director racist.

­Final year film student Sofie Peeters has created ‘Women in the Streets’ to highlight the problem of street harassment millions of women across the world face.  

Pretty Peeters filmed men with a hidden camera while walking around the Belgian capital.

She was constantly whistled and shouted at, with “B” words and phrases like “I'll take you to hotel” the most commonly heard.

Peeters' first-hand harassment account, Women in the Streets, screened at a local movie house, has caused a stir in the society.

Many noticed, the director chose to film her sequences in areas mostly populated by African migrants, and accused Peeters of being racist.

“It was one of my biggest fears. How to tackle this subject without making the film racist? But this is the reality: when you're walking around Brussels, in 9 cases out of 10 these insults come from a foreigner. But these people are characteristic of the entire Magrib community,” Peeters told Flemish TV Channel, VRT.  

A new law is due to come to force this fall in Belgium which will fight street harassment. Victims of leering, honking or whistling and sexual harassment, will have to report a violation so the police can investigate.

Comments (14)

ordinary citizen 05.09.2012 17:04

There are many ways to solve this problem. Unfortunat ely for poor or average people, this,  isnt going to stop unless there is a revolution. This is part of multiculturalism which the elit is promoting for many reasons.Scary thing is that millions of these are dreaming to come. Thousands will flood everywhere with the crime rising. Please do not get me wrong. Its not all of them criminals. Of course there are nice people among them. Its just different culture.I wish millions that our countries spend on them, be given to their countries in order to stop them or maybe rich countries {S. Arabia etc.} accept them as they share same religion and culture.


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@ Pity the fools (A Muslim hypocrite, no doubt) (unregistered) 04.08.2012 18:25

@ Pity the fools

Whether you like it or not. IT IS ABOUT RELIGION. IT IS ABOUT ISLAM...Mostly Muslims are condoning this behavior and not just in Belgium but all over the world. Your self-serving argument exhibits the four kinds of profound Islamic hypocrisy  & cowardice:

1- When Muslims without a doubt perform atrocities and acts of perversion on other people of different cultures & religions, it is no longer a matter of religion...THIS IS RECORDED FOR THE WORLD TO SEE..Don't blame this on the world as a whole. If you are a Muslim, have the courage to look in the mirror & face this behavioral aberrati on...Otherwise think of yourself as a coward. 

2- When Muslims are reprimanded for performing atrocities & acts of perversion on foreigners....It's  RACIST...Hypocrisy.

3- Islamic women are supposed to live in fear, shuffle around in hot robes, head scarves and burkas because Islamic me n are cowardly bullies who can't control their basic perversions..

4- Foreign women deserve to be sexually abused because by refusing to act like Muslim cattle, they are provoking Musl im men to attack them...... What total cowardi ce & hypocrisy.


The world is becoming increasingly sickened by Islamic behavior and for the sake of their civilized and clean-living Islamic co-religionists, the perverted ones better back off. 

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Pity the fools (unregistered) 04.08.2012 02:01

The comments here are pathetic, yet typical. You are all whining about religion and you all think you have the answers while you condemn every one else. This is precisely what is wrong in the world today. I don't care whether you where a Burka or walk around naked, everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. There is no justification for men to harass women. Men who do this are lame excuses for human beings. And don't get me started on those murderers in Afghanistan. It's not rocket science people, and it definitely has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with common sense. Stop be so ignorant and selfish and start respecting those around you. Until you do this, you will never, ever be respected back.

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