Women in Malta continue to face harassment and catcalling daily, especially when they are part of the LGBTIQ community, a reality that is a far cry from th one portrayed by Equality Minister Owen Bonnici on Friday, according to a gay rights activist.
An English singer who shared negative experiences she endured while holidaying in Malta was immediately assured by Bonnici the homophobia she witnessed was “isolated”.
Lucy Spraggan, a singer-songwriter and who took part in the popular UK X Factor contest in 2012, told her 565,000 Instagram and Facebook followers about being sexually harassed while in Malta with her girlfriend.
She described how she was catcalled while walking alongside her girlfriend, with men making derogatory gestures and even yelling “lesbians”.
Queer women 'constantly fetishised by straight men'
But while Bonnici rushed to assure Spraggan the behaviour she witnessed is uncommon here, the community manager at Allied Rainbow Communities (ARC), Clayton Mercieca disagreed.
Speaking to Times of Malta, he said women are “catcalled, assaulted and harassed on a daily basis”.
“Most gay men will tell you Malta is perfectly safe but trans women and feminine men will tell you otherwise.
The problem is one ingrained in showing off masculinity. There’s something terribly wrong in the upbringing of boys in our culture,” Mercieca said, admitting he too needed to constantly “check himself” while raising his young son.
Mercieca also said that no man, “be it a minister or anyone else”, can say that what a woman experiences is isolated.
The situation, he said, was even worse for queer women who are “constantly fetishised by straight men”.
“It’s as if they serve the purpose to pleasure them,” he said, adding that femme lesbians have it even worse as many men still fantasise about two women being together,” Mercieca said.
In recent years, Malta has been at the forefront of LGBTQ rights, with several laws enacted to ensure equality.
In May, for the sixth consecutive year, Malta’s LGBTIQ rights were again identified as one of the most comprehensive for citizens in Europe, with the country again topping ILGA’s European Rainbow Map Index.