In the CCTV footage shows 22-year-old student Marie Laguerre being hit in the face by her aggressor as she walked past a cafe terrace.
Ms Laguerre, who shared the video on her Facebook page, said the man “made dirty noises, comments and whistled” in her direction as he walked past.
But instead of keeping her head down and trying to move past him as quickly as possible she responded to him, saying “Shut up”.
The young French student admitted she did not even think the man had heard her response, but as it can be seen in the footage, the man proceeded to get an ashtray from a café table to throw it at her.
In response, Ms Laguerre insulted him as the pair came close to each other again.
In her Facebook post, she wrote: “I felt hatred, I refused to be demeaned, it was humiliating.
“I refused to look down, I looked him right in the eyes, I was not going to apologise.”
At this point, the man hit her with a blow so violent that she lost her footing and bashed her head against the barrier of the cafe terrace.
The attack has left her with a swollen brow cheekbone.
She added: “I was in pain, but it happened in a few seconds so I did not realise it right away.”
The video of the attack, which was given to her by the manager of the cafe, shows the astonished looks of the customers sitting on the terrace.
Some of the customers got up to confront the man who was already walking away, with a man brandishing a chair in his direction.
Since the attack, which took place last Tuesday, Laguerre has suffered from headaches and neck pain and has said that she is no longer comfortable in her own neighbourhood of La Villette.
“I feel my adrenaline and stress levels rise when I’m in the street,” she said.
“The problem is the systematic insecurity that women suffer as a result of men,” she added.
“Some men think that the street belongs to them and that we have no business being there.”