Police officers in the Brussels Capital Elsene police zone can now make use of an interactive tool to discover for themselves what it feels like to be harassed on the street. The police zone uses a simulator. Officers walk through it, while various projected figures address and insult them. ‘The main aim is to increase understanding among police officers to ensure that victims receive a hearty welcome when they make a report.’
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Simulator has Brussels police experience street harassment: ‘it shows what women experience on a daily basis’
Colin Clapson
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‘Poésie Masculine’ is a street harassment simulator, about the size of a shipping container. People walking through it experience the same discomfort as victims of street harassment. The installation has previously stood at various locations in Belgium and France, but this month it has landed at the Brussels Stock Exchange. It is also open to the public after 5PM.
‘When you enter, 12 personalities are projected in this space,’ explains Dimitri Cuypers, an inspector at the vice squad of the Brussels Capital Elsene police zone.
‘The simulator works with motion sensors,’ he continues. ‘From the moment you get closer, a projected person will come to life. Then as a passer-by, you are addressed, insulted and intimidated. You undergo what women go through on a daily basis when walking down the street. It's 5 minutes in the footsteps of a woman being intimidated.’
‘One of the personalities appears in a swimming pool,’ says Cuypers. ‘That man really undresses you with his eyes. He tells you he would like to do all kinds of things with you. That simulation is therefore not suitable for people under 14, because it really can have a serious impact on you!’
‘We are the first police division to partner ‘Poésie Masculine’. It is a really unique experience,’ he says. ‘In an interactive way it allows us to experience what a person, usually a woman, experiences when he or she is harassed on the street.’
According to Cuypers, the experience also has an impact. ‘We often hear stories of harassment and then try to show understanding and deal with it as best we can. But to experience it yourself now offers a whole new dimension. It has also triggered a lot of emotion in the officers who have tried it!’