“Even today in 2024, we do not accept that women are in power and let them ask for power, let them seek power.” Being the target of criticism is part of everyone who enters politics. On the other hand, when criticism becomes threats, it is because the opposition is going too far. And Sandrine Rousseau has been paying the price for years. It has now been fifteen years since she began her career at Europe Écologie Les Verts, and almost as long as she has suffered harassment on a daily basis. So much so thatshe estimates to have been, “at a time”the most harassed woman in France. This is what she said in an interview with Paul Larrouturou, political reporter for TF1Info, Tuesday April 16, 2024. The Paris MP, known for ardently fighting against gender-based and sexual violence, revealed some of the worst death and rape threats she receives every day.
“One day soon, we’ll trap you in the basement of your apartment building and give you the pleasure you crave. But if you don’t agree, call the police you hate.”, she reads facing the camera. “I’m going to cut your throat, you dirty bitchyou never speak negatively about the veil anymore, we always have an eye on you, wherever you go, you will always have a brother in front of you and behind you, do you understand the European thing?” ; “Tomorrow, if you cross the road in front of me, I don’t know if I wouldn’t have a brake or if my car will not respond” ; “Serious problems will end up happening to you, go hide you bitch” ; or “Go die, you female dog.” VHere are examples of the letters that Sandrine Rousseau receives every day.
Sandrine Rousseau talks about the impact of this harassment on her “psychological health”
“We must understand that this violence is not minor violence, sub-violence. Being insulted, spit in the face all day long, it has an impact on our mental health, on whether we feel good or not.”, recalls the MP. Moreover, she no longer lives peacefully since she was the victim of these insults and threats. “Today I never walk in the street without being hyper vigilant, when I take the metro I never stand at the edge of the platform, never. I stick to the wall. I receive so many things that I say to myself ‘these people exist’, so who’s to say to me that one day I won’t cross paths with one of them”laments Sandrine Rousseau.
And if she believes that “nothing is worth going through all that”, however, she does not intend to abandon her fights or her career in politics. Because she thinks above all about “all the young girls who are cyberbullied much more than others”to whom she wishes to send a strong message: “Not only are you not alone, but if today I speak, it is for you and I hope with all my heart that these words will help you lift your head. You are not responsible for the violence you suffer.”
“I am not in the role of the good and kind little girl”
Of course, Sandrine Rousseau is perfectly aware that her political opinions may displease, but for nothing in the world would she condone such behavior: “Yes, I have punchlines, if you don’t like them, skip it, […] you moan in your kitchen, you have the right to say ‘I can’t stand her’. What you are not allowed to do is make threats, to make sexist remarks, to post photos where I am presented as crazy. It’s against the law.” But the eco-feminist is convinced that these cases of harassment are far from isolated; they are part of a larger societal problem. “We do not accept that women are in power. […] That’s what people criticize me for, it’s the fact that I don’t have false modesty or that I don’t play the role of the good, kind little girl that people expect. I say ‘I’m here and I want to shake things up’ and that it’s inaudible, it’s unacceptable for part of the population”she finally laments to Paul Larrouturou.