Marie-Lou, 20, must go to her workplace during the confinement. On November 16, 2020, she tweeted her story: during a check, a police officer did not hesitate to make a sexist remark to her. She tells us.
For this winter 2020 version of confinement, the certificate is still necessary to go to work. To ensure that this instruction is respected, police checks have been put in place. But some are going better than others … On November 16, 2020, Marie-Lou, 20, executive assistant, goes to work, like every day. She is in the car and is stopped by a police officer for a control of the famous sesame. She puts on her mask, rolls down the window to present the paper to the police officer, gesturing to her laptop sleeve, to prove that she is not moving unnecessarily. Then the policeman looks at her skirt and remarks: "ODo you go to work dressed like that? ". Marie-Lou, shocked, retorts that she does not work in construction, or any other environment that requires wearing safety equipment. A roundabout way of making her understand that she dresses how she wants. In response, the officer raises his eyebrows and asks him to move on.
Arriving at work, the young woman is still in shock. "My father is in the military, I would never imagine him talking like that!", she tells us. Her boss is also shocked. Of Muslim faith, he sees in this sexist remark the desire to control, once again, the body and dress of women. "He said to me: 'Do you realize, we insult Muslim women because they have veils and you, we also make remarks to you because you are in a skirt!", says Marie-Lou.
The body of women, eternal object of control
It is to denounce this type of oppression that the young woman then decides to tell her mishap on Twitter, a social network where she often posts. Without expecting such virality from his message … The explanation for tens of thousands of shares and comments? "I think it touches on sensitive topics of the moment: sexism and the context of police violence", she explains.
Marie-Lou says she does not support inequalities, and is committed to the subject. "I am often in a skirt and heels, I really like fashion. I can't take the inappropriate looks, often from old men!", she protests. What would she like to be able to say to the policeman? "What can my outfit do to her, and who is he to judge her? It is mainly because of this kind of behavior that the police are frowned upon! I continue to put on skirts today, because I feel good about it and my relatives are proud of me! " She says this story has changed nothing in her life: "I will continue to dress as I wish", she concludes, determined.