They line up in front of a courthouse in southeastern France, from morning to evening, and have gathered in the thousands in cities across the country. They hold signs reading, “one rape every six minutes,” “not all men but always a man,” and “giving in is not consenting.”
They chant: “Rapist we see you, victim we believe you.”
Women across France are rallying in support of Gisèle Pelicot, a 72-year-old reluctant icon whose husband is on trial in the city of Avignon for systematically drugging her and inviting dozens of men, 50 of whom are now his co-defendants, into their home to rape her over nearly a decade.
The shocking case has sparked what many women in France call a long-overdue reckoning over “rape culture” and systemic sexism in the way the judicial system handles sexual violence.
Oh yeah, you got me there. Statistically small number of women who commit sexual assault completely absolves all men of being complicit in the sexual assault committed by mostly men. We definitely have to correct our perceptions on that one. Sure okay.
hey as a guy who was assaulted, please stop saying all men are complicit. do you understand what you’re saying when you say that?
You are basically validating the people who are trying to dismiss the assaults by men by using the “women do it too!” defense.
I’m sorry for what happened to you and you deserve justice and support. But so do the literally millions upon millions of women who have been assaulted by men who are basically ignored or intimidated by our society into staying silent about their experience.
incredibly ironic. how can you dismiss assault and say I’m the one dismissing it? jesus please get a grip and get off the fucking internet. why did I even try?
Sorry you’re getting this reaction. I am a man who was abused by women and all the support groups lead to me taking to a room full of women about it. Do men come forward less often? Yes. It would have to be like 1 in 100 men coming forward for it to be equal. I’ve had one other male friend who has been assaulted, but over half of the women I’ve been friends with have.
If it helps anyone with that being anecdotal, you have to look at the statistics of who is doing it: people in power. Just that alone means more men simply have the opportunity. Add to that that men are told sex is power, and that men who have sex often are virile, whereas women who do are slut shamed. It’s getting better, but still far off.
Anyway I’ll take the downvotes, but every statistic we have shown is that men are the primary antagonist in the vast majority of sexual assault against both men and women.
I’m sorry you were abused and I really wish this were a world where this sort of thing didn’t happen.
Well the idea with protests like this is to shine so bright a light on it that we force governments to act. If we do that enough, we can make this happen less and less to everyone.
You got downvoted in a comment thread like this for being a sexist ass and yes I define sexism as discrimination against someone on the basis of their sex
Women can rape people and so can Men
By the logic of stereotyping all men as rapists because some of them commit rape you could say the entirety of humanity is evil because of those capitalist assholes and bigots
Stop ignoring that both Female and Male sexes can commit rape
Stereotyping every Man as a rapist and ignoring the female rapists is sexist
I don’t beleive you replied to that person in good faith based on your other interactions on this thread
We solve problems by not ignoring certain parts of them or the entire problem
Ignoring problems only allows them to grow bigger
but every statistic we have shown is that men are the primary antagonist in the vast majority of sexual assault against both men and women.
I’d really like to see updated statistics when things like gendered laws that define it as something like unconsentual penetration with a penis is taken into account
Rape isn’t a gendered thing, both male amd female sexes should do it and it shouldn’t have a gendered legal definition
And so, what’s the course of action? To give all men some sterilization treatment?
How does this help with anything?
And, I promise you, the real numbers are probably scarily equal, just like with domestic abuse. Because men are definitely taught to never come forward with those.
But even if the true ratio was 1:50, what’s the solution? Let’s write the law that when it’s a man, he gets a double prison sentence. Or maybe the police shouldn’t believe men who say they were assaulted, but vise-versa barely check, cuz for sure it’s true?
Criminal statistics should in no way enforce the course of justice or legislation. They could only maybe influence where money is allocated in prevention campaigns. At best.
And so, what’s the course of action? To give all men some sterilization treatment?
Who the hell said that?
The case has put into the spotlight a growing problem with rape in France. The number of sexual assault victims in France increased by 33% in 2021 and nearly doubled from 2017, according to a government report. Women made up 89% of rape victims, while 96% of sexual violence perpetrators were men.
But out of almost 35,000 rapes recorded that year, just over 10% were prosecuted, and fewer than 5% resulted in a conviction. And the vast majority of rape or attempted rape victims − nine out of ten − never even file a complaint, the report found.
The plan is to make it so the system actually helps the victims. That’s the idea. These protests bring light to the issue.
And, I promise you, the real numbers are probably scarily equal, just like with domestic abuse. Because men are definitely taught to never come forward with those.
Cool guess, stats say you’re wrong.
But even if the true ratio was 1:50, what’s the solution?
See above.
Seriously this is fucking embarrassing, you’re creating constant strawman arguments without any basis of anything reported.
So how exactly am I complicit for some dude raping someone? Just because I have a penis? And are all women completely exempt or are all women also complicit?
