May 21, 2012 | 02:15
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Jul 28, 2011
Why a French sex scandal could only start in the U.S.
Abigail C. Saguy is an associate professor of sociology at UCLA and the author of "What is Sexual Harassment?: From Capitol Hill to the Sorbonne" (University of California Press, 2003). She is currently in Paris as part of an exchange program with the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.Something has shifted in France since the DSK scandal.
Ever since International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was charged with the sexual assault of a housekeeper in a New York hotel, the DSK scandal has dominated public discourse here in France in much the same way that the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas scandal dominated American discussions 20 years ago.
And just like the hearings that preceded Thomas's Supreme Court nomination turned into a lesson in sexual harassment for the American public, the scandal involving the man many assumed would be the next French president has precipitated a shift in how sexuality and power is discussed in France.
This is my assessment based on scores of informal discussions with French people since May 13 2011, when I arrived in Paris as part of a university exchange. When, over a decade earlier, I conducted more than 60 in-depth interviews with French and American lawyers and human resource personnel about sexual harassment law and policies, the French respondents largely scoffed at the topic. “That’s not a serious topic,” a receptionist at a French branch of a large American multinational firm bluntly informed me. French HR employees and lawyers asked whether it was true that, in the United States, men are routinely accused of sexual harassment for opening a door for a woman. I was often told things along the lines of: “Things are different here in France! We don’t believe in the Battle of the Sexes.”
While there have been plenty of allusions to American Puritanism and French seduction in news media debates over the DSK scandal, the conversion has not stopped there. Over the past two and a half months, this high profile event has provided an opportunity for many French people to give serious thought to the issue of sexual coercion, rape law and sexual harassment. These deliberations and reflections have caused a real shift that I think is here to stay. French people who initially found the accusations “unbelievable” are now better able to imagine a powerful man forcing himself on a hotel room attendant.
Thanks to massive media coverage and incalculable cocktail conversations, many French people have a better understanding of the pressures that would have made it unlikely that a hotel housekeeper in France would have brought sexual assault charges against such a powerful politician. They can better understand how she would have been restrained by legitimate concerns that her complaint would not be taken seriously. The case of Tristan Banon, a French woman who has recently filed criminal charges of attempted rape against Dominique Strauss-Kahn for an event that allegedly took place in 2002, also illustrates this. The French news media has widely reported that her mother — an active member of the DSK’s political party — and others initially persuaded her not to press charges.
Yet until quite recently it was also unlikely that a room attendant would have leveled such charges in the United States. The cultural shift in contemporary America can be attributed in large part to changes in legal and corporate approaches to sexual harassment. American corporate sexual harassment policies have often been dismissed as window dressing, designed to protect against liability rather than to effectively root out sexual harassment. Yet such polices have increased the probability that a housekeeper would believe she has a right to work without being sexually assaulted, and that a claim of sexual assault would be taken seriously by her employer and by the police. This new American legal and cultural climate is very different from its French counterpart.
French law has recognized sexual harassment as a misdemeanor since the early 1990s, with possible sanctions for individual harassers including not only fines but also jail time. Yet for reasons that have little to do with sexual permissiveness and everything to do with legal and political history, French employers are not held liable — as they are in the U.S. — for sexual harassment occurring in their workplaces.
In the United States, unlike in France, civil courts can order employers to pay the victim both compensatory damages and also punitive damages, which are intentionally large sums of money so as to have a deterrent effect. In an effort to protect themselves from such extensive financial liability, American corporations have developed comprehensive internal regulations, designed to prevent and address possible cases of sexual harassment.
Facing no comparable liability risk, French corporations have taken no comparable measures. Without a financial incentive, French employers have been understandably slow to develop internal regulations or even to see sexual harassment in the workplace as their problem. When asked about what they would do if an employee reported that a supervisor or coworker had sexually harassed her or him, French human resource managers typically say that they would encourage the employee to file charges but that it is not up to them to enforce the law.
Nor have French human relations officials seen it as their obligation to create a workplace environment that is free from harassment. Indeed, they have been quick to criticize American approaches to sexual harassment as exaggerated and fear that replicating such policies in France would cast an unwanted pall over French workplaces.
This reluctance to embrace corporate responsibility for a hostile work environment has social consequences that reverberate well beyond individual workplaces. In a nutshell, the message that sexual harassment and sexual violence is intolerable has not been transmitted in France to the same degree that it has in the United States. On the other hand, in France, where freedom of speech is not a constitutionally protected right, it is relatively easy to bring and win cases against slander. This means that those victims who do file criminal charges often find themselves charged for slander, as indeed Banon does now.
These legal differences are deeply entrenched in American and French legal systems. And yet, these laws have also changed dramatically in the past 30 years. While Clarence Thomas was ultimately confirmed as a US Supreme Court judge, his confirmation hearings played a key role in raising awareness, which in turn led to new legal practices regarding sexual harassment. While the likelihood that DSK will have to serve prison time has recently dwindled, the charges filed against him may nonetheless lead to heightened concern about sexual coercion and a greater will to protect victims of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment in France.
And just like the hearings that preceded Thomas's Supreme Court nomination turned into a lesson in sexual harassment for the American public, the scandal involving the man many assumed would be the next French president has precipitated a shift in how sexuality and power is discussed in France.
This is my assessment based on scores of informal discussions with French people since May 13 2011, when I arrived in Paris as part of a university exchange. When, over a decade earlier, I conducted more than 60 in-depth interviews with French and American lawyers and human resource personnel about sexual harassment law and policies, the French respondents largely scoffed at the topic. “That’s not a serious topic,” a receptionist at a French branch of a large American multinational firm bluntly informed me. French HR employees and lawyers asked whether it was true that, in the United States, men are routinely accused of sexual harassment for opening a door for a woman. I was often told things along the lines of: “Things are different here in France! We don’t believe in the Battle of the Sexes.”
While there have been plenty of allusions to American Puritanism and French seduction in news media debates over the DSK scandal, the conversion has not stopped there. Over the past two and a half months, this high profile event has provided an opportunity for many French people to give serious thought to the issue of sexual coercion, rape law and sexual harassment. These deliberations and reflections have caused a real shift that I think is here to stay. French people who initially found the accusations “unbelievable” are now better able to imagine a powerful man forcing himself on a hotel room attendant.
Thanks to massive media coverage and incalculable cocktail conversations, many French people have a better understanding of the pressures that would have made it unlikely that a hotel housekeeper in France would have brought sexual assault charges against such a powerful politician. They can better understand how she would have been restrained by legitimate concerns that her complaint would not be taken seriously. The case of Tristan Banon, a French woman who has recently filed criminal charges of attempted rape against Dominique Strauss-Kahn for an event that allegedly took place in 2002, also illustrates this. The French news media has widely reported that her mother — an active member of the DSK’s political party — and others initially persuaded her not to press charges.
Yet until quite recently it was also unlikely that a room attendant would have leveled such charges in the United States. The cultural shift in contemporary America can be attributed in large part to changes in legal and corporate approaches to sexual harassment. American corporate sexual harassment policies have often been dismissed as window dressing, designed to protect against liability rather than to effectively root out sexual harassment. Yet such polices have increased the probability that a housekeeper would believe she has a right to work without being sexually assaulted, and that a claim of sexual assault would be taken seriously by her employer and by the police. This new American legal and cultural climate is very different from its French counterpart.
French law has recognized sexual harassment as a misdemeanor since the early 1990s, with possible sanctions for individual harassers including not only fines but also jail time. Yet for reasons that have little to do with sexual permissiveness and everything to do with legal and political history, French employers are not held liable — as they are in the U.S. — for sexual harassment occurring in their workplaces.
In the United States, unlike in France, civil courts can order employers to pay the victim both compensatory damages and also punitive damages, which are intentionally large sums of money so as to have a deterrent effect. In an effort to protect themselves from such extensive financial liability, American corporations have developed comprehensive internal regulations, designed to prevent and address possible cases of sexual harassment.
Facing no comparable liability risk, French corporations have taken no comparable measures. Without a financial incentive, French employers have been understandably slow to develop internal regulations or even to see sexual harassment in the workplace as their problem. When asked about what they would do if an employee reported that a supervisor or coworker had sexually harassed her or him, French human resource managers typically say that they would encourage the employee to file charges but that it is not up to them to enforce the law.
Nor have French human relations officials seen it as their obligation to create a workplace environment that is free from harassment. Indeed, they have been quick to criticize American approaches to sexual harassment as exaggerated and fear that replicating such policies in France would cast an unwanted pall over French workplaces.
This reluctance to embrace corporate responsibility for a hostile work environment has social consequences that reverberate well beyond individual workplaces. In a nutshell, the message that sexual harassment and sexual violence is intolerable has not been transmitted in France to the same degree that it has in the United States. On the other hand, in France, where freedom of speech is not a constitutionally protected right, it is relatively easy to bring and win cases against slander. This means that those victims who do file criminal charges often find themselves charged for slander, as indeed Banon does now.
These legal differences are deeply entrenched in American and French legal systems. And yet, these laws have also changed dramatically in the past 30 years. While Clarence Thomas was ultimately confirmed as a US Supreme Court judge, his confirmation hearings played a key role in raising awareness, which in turn led to new legal practices regarding sexual harassment. While the likelihood that DSK will have to serve prison time has recently dwindled, the charges filed against him may nonetheless lead to heightened concern about sexual coercion and a greater will to protect victims of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment in France.
