That's because the understanding of what constitutes sexual harassment differs widely, among both men and women. What some consider flattering may be seen by others as overstepping the mark. This was highlighted in a recent survey conducted in seven different European countries. The polling institute YouGov surveyed women and men in Germany, Britain, France, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway. The 8,500 respondents were asked to evaluate different situations: for example, a man whistling at a woman, making bodily contact with her while dancing at a party, or exposing his genitals to her. [...]
The French, reputedly the biggest flirts in Europe, turned out to be particularly strict with regard to winking. One in four felt this already constituted sexual harassment. For 16 percent of people in France, asking for a date was also taboo, a stricter response than was found among respondents in any of the other six countries. [...]
"One of the main findings is the pervasiveness of the problem of sexual harassment," says Joanna Goodey, who led a large-scale, Europe-wide study by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in 2014. It found that half of all women in Europe had at some point in their lives been the victims of sexual harassment. Furthermore, Goodey told DW: "One in five were saying, across the EU, that they had experienced at least one form of sexual harassment in the last 12 months." [...]
"We found that in certain member states it's less likely that women will talk about incidences of sexual violence or harassment with other people," says Goodey. She explains that history has had a hand in the fact that in Sweden, for example, it is normal nowadays to report sexual assaults. Unlike in eastern Europe, gender equality has been a subject of discussion there for many years, she points out.
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