A young Belgian influencer has come up with a novel way of dealing with street harassment – by turning the tables on cat-callers.
In a video posted online, Shauna Dewit is shown walking down the street in central Brussels. As she addresses the camera, she is interrupted by a hissing sound from a man apparently trying to get her attention.
Turning to the cat-caller, she shouts, “Did you just lose your cat or are you fluent in bulls**t?" Dewit is then shown chasing after the man, laughing hysterically as he runs away.
Explaining her unusual approach, Dewit, 25 said: “I’m tired of being scared when walking down the street, so I decided I’d be the scary one.”
The video clearly resonated with many young women and quickly went viral, racking up more than a million views on Instagram.
'It's happened so often'
In a recent interview with Het Laatste Nieuws, Dewit lamented the dangers women face simply going about their daily lives. She explained that while the viral video was staged, it was based on her real life experiences.
"It's happened so often, unfortunately," she said, "usually in Brussels, but also in other places in our country. And in France. It usually happens when I'm alone. But also when I'm out with friends. Then boys bother us and make strange noises, like in the video. I think it's absolutely ridiculous and I don't understand why it still happens."
Street harassment is a serious problem in Brussels. Over a decade ago, Sofie Peeters made global headlines after making a film about her experiences of being harassed in the Belgian capital.
The film, called Femme de la Rue, showed Peeters walking around her neighbourhood wearing jeans and a cardigan. Men leered, propositioned her and shouted insults like “whore and “slut”. She said she received such comments eight to 10 times a day.
Sadly, things do not seem to have improved in the intervening period. Last year, reports of street harassment in Belgium soared by 115% on the previous year.
