SPD push to make catcalling a punishable offence in Germany

Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) has proposed that verbal sexual harassment, also known as catcalling, become a punishable offence in the federal republic. 

Verbal sexual harassment may become punishable in Germany

A faction of SPD members in the German Bundestag is calling for verbal sexual harassment to become a punishable offence. 

Catcalling involves saying, and often shouting, sexual comments or making sexual gestures towards someone in public. These comments are overwhelmingly made by men towards women and are a regular occurrence for many women. 

“We must take decisive action to counteract this,” SPD faction leader Sonja Eichwede said in an interview with Stern magazine, specifically referencing cases where consistent or particularly violent verbal sexual harassment pushes victims to withdraw from public spaces. 

A 2021 survey of 3.908 people in Germany, most of whom were women, found that 90 percent of respondents had experienced verbal sexual harassment in the past three months. Half of respondents said sexist comments from strangers made them more fearful, and 40 percent said they avoided specific locations for fear of harassment.

Sexual harassment cases reveal gaps in German law

Currently, verbal sexual harassment is not legally considered an insult or personal disparagement in Germany. In 2017, the Federal Court of Justice ruled that this amounted to a gap in the law.

If the SPD successfully moves forward with making verbal sexual harassment punishable, Eichwede said she imagines a fine to be an appropriate punishment. Finalised in May, the CDU-SPD’s coalition agreement includes revising the German Criminal Code. “From our perspective, verbal sexual harassment belongs there,” Eichwede told the magazine.

Catcallers already face fines in France and Portugal. As recently as July 2024, the Netherlands also moved to make verbal sexual harassment punishable and in Spain, those found guilty can face prison time.

A case in Cologne brought public sexual harassment back into mainstream discussion in Germany in recent weeks. 30-year-old Yanni Gentsch caught a man filming her bum while she was running and tried to file a report with the police, only to find that voyeuristic filming of covered body parts is not illegal in Germany. 

North Rhine-Westphalia Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens) will now petition the federal government to establish nationwide legislation for the prosecution of unconsensual, sexually motivated image recordings.