The aporia of mexican criminal law: addressing male exhibitionism and sexual harassment on public transportation.

Abstract

Since time immemorial, the social world has promoted a patriarchal hegemonic paradigm that positions men above women, which has been reproduced under a context of structural violence that attacks the dignity of this historic vulnerable group through actions of intimidation, terror and humiliation that affect his psychological, sexual and physical sphere and, in addition, nullify his status as a person by reducing him to the condition of sexual object.

In this regard, it is necessary to identify the characteristics of this form of gender violence against women as a starting point to understand its implementation in a framework of violation of their human right to access a life free of violence.

The current normative design of the criminal policy against the sexual harassment of women in public spaces, through the exhibitionism (masturbation) of men in public transport is parsimonious rather than static, since in 2025, only two states have criminalized it in their criminal codifications and one regulates it as an administrative offense in a different system; this is a challenge for the Mexican State in its unrestricted obligation to guarantee unrestricted respect for women's human right to a life free of violence.