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.
Just admit that you only care about victims of one gender and not both, stop lying.
All rape is bad. It’s probably one of, if not the darkest, most evil form of violation one human being can do to another.
The way sexual violence against women and sexual violence against men manifest themselves in our societies are totally different however. Each with different contexts and unique problems. To suggest otherwise is disingenuous and a bad faith argument.
To hijack a thread about a woman who was drugged and raped by over 100 men over the course of a decade, which is a particularly shocking assault, because your specific trauma isn’t represented in this particular context is beyond offensive and petty.
This woman was drugged and raped by over 100 men, over a huge gulf of time, orchestrated by a man that she trusted (her husband). It is an absolutely insane level of personal assault. Yet here we are, in the comments section, talking about men and their problems. Like we always end up doing.