A woman's video of a man masturbating in front of her on a train in France has gone viral, in yet another example of the rampant sexual harassment that many women face on public transportation.



Natacha Bras, vice-president of MoiAussiAmnesie, a group that provides support to sexual assault victims who suffer amnesia, filmed the incident on a Poitiers-bound train on June 22. The video, which Bras posted on Twitter without blurring the harasser's face, has since been viewed more than 110,000 times.



The France 24 Observers is not authorized to publish the video on YouTube, but is including a screenshot in which the man can be seen with his hand in the crotch of his pants.





Bras said on Twitter that the man had changed seats to be closer to her and began masturbating while looking at her.

"He did this for an hour and 15 minutes and then followed me toward the bathroom. I am going to file a complaint because this man will do this again, for sure. I have other videos as well,” Bras wrote.



Bras later told local radio station France Bleu that train car was almost empty. "I didn’t see any staff on board until Poitiers, where the man who had been masturbating got off the train,” Bras said. “I started filming because I thought it might be my only way to defend myself.”



The French national railway operator SNCF said in a reply to Bras' tweets that it "regretted the difficult travel conditions" she endured and that in the future she should notify train personnel or call SNCF's emergency number if she encountered a similar situation.



The perpetrator could face one year in prison and receive a 15,000-euro fine, according to the French magazine L'Obs.



But because French privacy laws often protect individuals from having their image taken without their consent, Bras could risk facing one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros. "I can be sentenced to a heavier penalty" than the perpetrator, Bras wrote on Twitter. "Do you think it is acceptable?"



