Editorial – An anti-sexist fight to expand | Geneva Grandstand
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This month, the City is promoting the right of women to occupy public space without hindrance. A just cause. That should one day be completed by telling men what they have to gain by abandoning the old clichés linked to gender.
OpinionMarc MoulinWomen who proclaim their right to enjoy the urban space, without being bothered. This is the theme of the campaign that will capture the eye in Geneva these days. A new stage in a crusade that the City has been carrying out for three years. The target is to be commended, as the numbers are stark. By the age of 15, the majority of teenage girls have already experienced street harassment, which is appalling and unacceptable.
But shouldn't we talk so directly to potential perpetrators, men, and rally as many of them as possible to the cause? We will probably not achieve this by treating them collectively as rapists, as some ultra feminists do. On the other hand, we must be able to show them that the abolition of gender stereotypes will offer them oxygen.
In the old war of the sexes, the males certainly got the big paychecks, the power and the glory. But at what cost? Traditional expectations of boys turn them into ticking time bombs. You have to repress your tears, consider life as a competition, come out a winner or risk looking like a failure or behave like a Don Juan, driven by your fly rather than your heart. Old nonsense? Yes, but these old-fashioned things nevertheless continue to stink the air and forge the image we have of virility.
A young person would not recognize himself in this grimacing mirror without being pushed into it. Men certainly have a little power to lose in dismantling stereotypes, but they have humanity to gain: the freedom to be themselves and to esteem themselves. Aren't we insulting ourselves when we come to crush others - especially women - to feel we exist? It is together that the war of the sexes will be won, for all.
Marc Moulin has been a journalist for the Geneva section since 2013. He is particularly interested in politics in general and more specifically in mobility issues. In the past, he worked at “Temps”, at Radio Suisse Romande (now RTS) and at One FM. Born in Geneva, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts there.
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