Have you ever heard of Frotteurism or paraphilias? Paraphilias are sexual behaviors that are seen by society as atypical and unusual, and many of them are harmless. Others, on the other hand, usually due to the high intensity, can harm the individual in his or her personal life, in social relationships, in everyday professional life, or may cause harm to others.

Understanding Frotteurism

Such practices when they leave only and exclusively the legal sphere of the agent and start harming other people, as in the case of Frotteurism, They end up being legally typified with the intention of penalizing the aggressor, preventing the occurrence of new actions, or restoring the victim.

The word Frotteurism comes from the French "frotter" which means rubbing. Frotteurism occurs when someone, usually a male person, rub or "rub" their sexual organ on part of another clothed person's body, without their consent. Such conduct usually takes place in crowded places, such as public transportation (subways, buses, trains), shows, elevators, among others.

Such practice can also occur through the use of the hands, i.e., the perpetrator can also incur Frotteurism when groping an unsuspecting victim. Headlines about such practices are increasingly common in the news, especially in large metropolises, where agglomerations are more common, especially where public transportation is concerned.

Frotteurism legal provisions

As such conducts generate great indignation and repulsion by society, as well as great terror and suffering on the part of the victim, it was necessary for the legislature to act to criminalize them, which happened in 2018, through federal law 13,718. Prior to the year 2018, the practice described above could be classified as a misdemeanor (and not a crime) under the name of Harassment Offensive to Pudor, the penalty for which was only a fine.

Or else it could try to frame such fact as Rape, which the STJ has sometimes understood, but this classification was too subjective (and in my opinion disproportionate), to the extent that such conduct often went unpunished due to the difficulty in typifying it. However, with the advent of federal law 13.718 of 2018, the criminal type (now a crime) of Sexual Immortality was created, provided for in article 215A of the Brazilian Penal Code, whose provision reads: "Art. 215-A. To practice against someone and without his consent a libidinous act with the objective of satisfying one's own lust or that of a third party: Penalty - confinement, from 1 (one) to 5 (five) years, if the act does not constitute a more serious crime.

Unpacking the above device we come to some observations/conclusions: 1) unlike before, when the penalty for the infraction was a fine, with the advent of this law such conduct is now considered a crime, In other words, such practice is seen by the legal system today as something more serious than what was seen in the past, being considered a medium potential offense; 2) the criminal act can be committed by both men and women, just as the victim can be a man or a woman, thus constituting a bi-common crime (it can be committed or suffered by anyone); 3) the act can only be considered a crime if it is committed intentionally, that is, there is only a crime if the agent acts with the intention of satisfying his own lust (intense sexual desire/impulse), attacking the victim's sexual freedom; 4) this practice is considered a crime of public criminal action.

Embarrassment, Exposure and Frotteurism

In other words, given its gravity, the State/Public Power takes upon itself the responsibility with regard to the progress of the action, with no need for the victim's consent.

With this, representation by the person who suffered the crime, a requirement that caused embarrassment and unnecessary exposure of the victim, is no longer necessary, besides making her relive the traumatic experience she had lived through, which further delayed the progress of the judicial process.

5) despite being a non-bailable crime, this type of crime is not included in the list of heinous crimes; 6) in case the action also falls under another more serious crime, the penalty will be that of the more serious crime and not that related to the crime of sexual harassment; 7) people who practiced Frotteurism before the effectiveness of law 13.718/18 (i.e. before 25-09-2018) do not respond to criminal action based on the crime of sexual harassment, but based on the previous national legislation, probably as a misdemeanor (a milder penalty).

Conclusion

In light of the above, the importance of the approximation of Law studies with the knowledge from the lines of Psychology and Psychoanalysis is evident, Such a link is indispensable both for the operators of law in the legal profession of advocacy, magistrature, academic career, and for legislators, doctrines and mediators, as well as for psychoanalysts, therapists, and psychologists, since the exchange of knowledge among these doctrines promotes important debates for the constant evolution of society.

This article was written by Felipe Riedel, Psychoanalyst in training, Judicial Analyst at the Court of Justice of Bahia, Judicial and Extrajudicial Mediator, Salvador/Bahia. email: [email protected] Linkedin://www.linkedin.com/in/felipe-riedel-3b9760145/