The problem with being a woman on the beach

Harassment and ogling is an age-old issue facing many women on the coast – are France’s ‘anti-sexism’ patrols the answer?

Being on the beach is embarrassing. Unless you are too young or too old to care, mooching about in what is essentially your underwear, in public, is awkward and weird. In no other social situation would you bend over in your pants, in front of hundreds of strangers, or pull out a wedgie, so it is hardly surprising that we stare at one another on the beach and I’d argue women do it just as much as men. 

So when I read this week that ‘France has launched anti-sexism beach patrols’ I must confess I rolled my eyes. The new system, operating in Marseille and dubbed Safer Plage, works by way of a free app which enables women to set off an alert if they are being ‘bothered’ or ‘harassed’, in which case a pair of ‘beach mediators’ is dispatched – one to reassure the woman, the other to tackle the accused.

None of these agents are able to wield the power of the law, so presumably the idea is for the subject of these alerts to get a stern ticking off instead, which in my experience, much like telling a teacher you’re being bullied, tends not to be terribly effective. 

It brings back unpleasant memories of the dystopian ‘Covid marshals’ that used to patrol beauty spots during lockdown. Maybe it’s the fact that these agents are called ‘mediators’, which strikes me as similarly Orwellian, or just my general aversion to any form of nanny-state interference, but surely the local council has better things to spend money on than this – the campaign cost €116,000 (£100,000).