Why is sexual violence still not a men’s problem? A case study of anti-street harassment policy

“Violence against women is a man’s problem” has become a popular slogan among organizations seeking to engage men in sexual violence prevention. The overwhelming majority of sexual violence and harassment is indeed committed by men, and the need for cultural change among men has been central in public debates since #MeToo. Moreover, toxic masculinity, characterized by traits promoting dominance, is identified as a cause of sexual violence and harassment. However, addressing men in policy remains a contentious issue, and many prevention initiatives still fail to systematically address men and masculinities. This paper analyzes the tensions and difficulties in making men the object of sexual violence policy. It does so based on an empirical study of anti-street harassment policy in the Netherlands and France. The chapter draws from interviews with policymakers and professionals in both countries, as well as content analysis of policy documents and debates. This analysis shows a double development. On the one hand, right-wing parties make men central to their politics, by focusing on strengthening criminal sanctions and framing street harassment as a problem created primarily by racialized minority men. On the other hand, left-wing parties and policymakers involved in the implementation of preventive policies express much uneasiness about how to address men. My interviews show how policymakers’ concerns about reproducing stigmas about racialized minority men creates much uneasiness about how to address men in policy. Consequently, most preventive initiatives still failed to make men a central dimension of policy, instead focusing on victim support and bystander training. Based on this case study, the paper discusses opportunities and challenges in efforts to make men an object of sexual violence policy. It theorizes the ways in which sexual violence policies (fail to) address men and masculinities, an understudied but emerging subject in scholarship on policy and gender.