Tangier Sexual Harassment Video Sparks Debate on Street Safety for Women

The main suspect in this case of sexual harassment in broad daylight is a minor who is only 17 years old. Interviewed by SNRT News, Mohssine Benzakour, a psycho-sociologist, explained that the phenomenon has been growing for some time because each actor identifies the street as his territory and makes sure to impose his law and his will there. For him, violence against women, despite the many awareness campaigns, has not seen a real decline. And the phenomenon draws its strength from the relationships that people maintain with each other.

"In Morocco, we always have this problem of conceiving the relationship to the other through force or violence. It is always a question of authority. What is happening today is that girls are inciting sexual harassment because they are not dressing the way I conceive it. In the name of individual freedoms, some come to the excesses that we observe. In this case, there will always be someone to bear the responsibility for the acts we denounce and a victim to justify our wrongs".

When asked whether the problem is linked to the socialization process at school, the psycho-sociologist emphasizes that the Moroccan school has not yet understood how to tackle the issue, and how to develop in young people the relationship to the other, or what the public place is, how to behave when we find ourselves in public. "Today, with the school curricula, we find nothing on citizenship. What do we call a good citizen? None of this is reflected in the school curricula and it is a very important part of the training of our children as the leaders of tomorrow that we are missing. And it’s a shame".

The doctor takes the Tangier incident as a strong signal sent to the authorities to try to review the different notions instilled in young people. The irony is that what happened in Tangier was the work of a minor. "The saddest thing is that he took his gesture for a heroic act, hence the publication on social networks. But that doesn’t mean we should blame social networks for the excesses we’re seeing. We are accountable for what’s happening. We’ve long blamed TV, the computer. Today, the perfect scapegoat is the internet. No, it’s a matter of citizenship, responsibility and education. It’s as simple as that".

For the specialist, social networks have certainly amplified the phenomenon, but they have the merit of reflecting back to Moroccan society what it has refused to see for many years. "We cannot blame social networks when our children reflect the education we have instilled in them", he added.

Even if parents have their share of responsibility, the school is not spared. For Mohssine Benzakour, as it is a question of sexual harassment, it would be time for the sex education course to become a reality. "But more importantly, we need to establish civic-mindedness. Make young people understand what the relationship with the other should be. We cannot let young people grow up with the idea that we have to exclude some from society because of their difference. Children should not grow up thinking that a woman is a weak being, and that we can have whatever we want from her by force or violence. It’s a matter of education and we have to get to work", he specified.