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.

  • JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    ‘Not all men but always a man’ seems to marginalise victims of female rapists, which do exist.

    Otherwise, I’m absolutely in favour of rehabilitation, and if necessary, isolation of rapists - of all genders. I hope the court/government can be made to agree

    • saroh@lemmy.world
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      30 days ago

      From the article:

      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.

      It seems that sexual violence has been hidden in plain sight and downplayed heavily by the police and justice system, or simply socially accepted.

      It’s estimated 10% of people have been victim of incest, here in France. How can you build something safe based on that.

      I don’t believe our current justice system allows for proper rehabilitation. Second offense for such crimes are still very high (10%?).

      IMHO It’s a nation wide educational failure and our politicians aren’t really keen on fixing this, for now.

      • Mubelotix@jlai.lu
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        30 days ago

        Keep in mind those numbers don’t perfectly reflect reality though. Probably a few percents off in favor of women

        • saroh@lemmy.world
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          30 days ago

          Just providing more facts on the “all men” plus maybe a bit more context on the situation here.

            • saroh@lemmy.world
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              30 days ago

              I’m just quoting the article. I understand it’s hard to evaluate, as stated police + justice + stuff being less socially accepted.

              But yes it’s definitely false to say “all men”. That was the point.

            • saroh@lemmy.world
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              30 days ago

              You cannot flag the same post multiple times on Lemmy.

              You’re under the impression it is because it’s an exact copy paste comment multiple times in the same post which is the reason I flagged it as spam…

            • x4740N@lemm.ee
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              28 days ago

              Look flyingsquid,

              It’s not cool to publically expose reports that can be sensitive in nature and can put a target on a users back for what they report which can be especially dangerous if people find out the real life details on a user on lemmy and target them in real life or do something like swatting which can get someone seriously hurt or killed

              A private message would be a lot better for communicating with users

      • x4740N@lemm.ee
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        28 days ago

        How does France legally define rape ?

        If its a gendered definition then the statistics are incorrect because rape can be committed by both sexes

        • saroh@lemmy.world
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          28 days ago

          These statistics are more biased by our police not accepting the victims’ complaints than our justice’s definition, or also what we see as socially acceptable. That’s why these stats have risen so much in the recent years.

          Heck our president met his wife when he was a minor and she was his school teacher, we have ex high government official mixed in incest stories…

          As much as it’s false to say it’s always men, these numbers exist more as a reflection of our justice system and shouldn’t be used to infer stats on the society as a whole.

    • rekabis@lemmy.ca
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      29 days ago

      ‘Not all men but always a man’ seems to marginalise victims of female rapists, which do exist.

      Oh, it’s much worse than that: the CDC - the largest medical org on the f**king planet - has clearly established that women rape men as frequently as men rape women:

      And now the real surprise: when asked about experiences in the last 12 months, men reported being “made to penetrate”—either by physical force or due to intoxication—at virtually the same rates as women reported rape (both 1.1 percent in 2010, and 1.7 and 1.6 respectively in 2011).

      In other words, if being made to penetrate someone was counted as rape—and why shouldn’t it be?—then the headlines could have focused on a truly sensational CDC finding: that women rape men as often as men rape women.

      50% of all cross-gender rapists are women, and yet almost 100% of all convicted rapists are men.

      What an exemplary case of systemic gender bigotry and misandry in society and the legal establishment.

    • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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      30 days ago

      Women made up 89% of rape victims, while 96% of sexual violence perpetrators were men.

      Oh yes that 4% really really must be stopped.