A few weeks ago, the "Mazan rape trial" began: highly publicized, this
chilling case is presented as extraordinary, out of the ordinary.However, the large number of attackers and their apparent banality are
challenging, going against our representation of the rapist as an
isolated and easily identifiable monster. ---- For ten years, from 2011
to 2020, Dominique Pélicot drugged his wife Gisèle on multiple occasions
in their home in Mazan and gave her to be raped, unconscious, by more
than 80 men found via a website. These apparently ordinary men sometimes
raped her several times. Fifty-one of them have been on trial since the
beginning of September. Some of them claim to have believed they were
participating in the fantasies of a swinger couple. This is hardly
convincing given the rules imposed on them by Dominique Pélicot: no
perfume, no smell of tobacco, be clean: no trace so that she would not
know anything. And what's more, the internet chat room where the rapes
were prepared was called "Without her knowledge". For others, the
husband was OK, so it was OK. A woman belongs to her husband, she is his
thing. Property rights take precedence over a woman's rights! That's
patriarchy. That's rape culture.
For ten years, doctors did not look for what was happening, while the
victim consulted many times, was confused and disturbed. They ended up
talking about Alzheimer's. The sexist bias of medicine towards women
certainly did not help with proper care. As for social security, quick
to track down "complacent" sick leave, it found nothing wrong with the
multiple prescriptions of medication, made to the husband, to drug his
wife. Similarly, Dominique Pélicot's doctor did not hesitate to write
these prescriptions.
The courage of women
The facts were discovered by chance. Cornered by the security guards of
a shopping center where he was filming "under the girls' skirts",
Pélicot saw his computer inspected by the police. And the multiple
photos of the rapes were found. Along with photos of the couple's
daughter, naked. After several decades of family and couple life, these
two women learned that their husband and father had fomented these
atrocious crimes while they perceived him as "a good husband".
More than 10,000 people demonstrated on September 14 in support of
Gisèle Pélicot and all rape victims.
Gisèle Pélicot, with great courage, refused to go behind closed doors so
that everyone would know: shame must change sides. From the first days
of the trial, which was scheduled to last several weeks, the various
strategies used by the defense repeatedly sparked collective indignation
and revealed the extent to which rape culture was deeply rooted in our
customs. On September 10, Guillaume de Palma, defense attorney, stated
that "there is rape and rape, and without the intention to commit it,
there is no rape."
According to him, it does not matter if the victim did not consent; the
definition of rape would depend on the alleged intentions of the
aggressor! Another defense attorney, Nadia El Bouroumi, was particularly
insistent in her questions to Gisèle Pélicot, provoking her anger. The
attorney justified herself: "I took the microphone and said that she was
the one who wanted it to be public and that now it was not a question of
complaining." How much longer will victims of sexist and sexual violence
(SGBV) have to endure such public humiliation?
The continuum of patriarchal violence
This trial demonstrates the existence of the rape culture that we, as
feminists, have been explaining for decades, even hundreds of years:
patriarchal violence is always linked to a general and systemic context.
Dominiques Pélicot's sordid ideas did not suddenly appear to her one
morning, upon waking up. This is what their daughter, Caroline Darian,
explains in her book Et j'ai arrêt de t'appeler papa: in her childhood,
there were many signs of violence and control. Her grandfather,
Dominique Pélicot's father, was married to his adopted daughter, under
guardianship: Caroline Darian describes this unhealthy relationship and
notes the fact that she had to insist to obtain the right to no longer
go to his house. The incestuous climate she speaks of is not an isolated
case: recent investigations by CIVIISE[1]remind us that this phenomenon
exists in many families, hidden most of the time for decades. When
victims speak out, they are not believed by their family, nor by the
cops, nor by the justice system.
This patriarchal system led to no man contacted by Dominique Pelicot on
the forum where he recruited future attackers raising the alarm or
worrying about Gisèle Pelicot's fate. The husband's hold on his wife
took several years to close on her, and at all these stages, people
close to her could have seized the clues to intervene and stop these
atrocious acts. For patriarchal violence to take hold, many people have
to turn a blind eye. So let's stop turning a blind eye and shout loud
and clear: you will never again have the comfort of our silence!
Today, Caroline Darian campaigns for the recognition and prevention of
chemical submission. This phenomenon must be addressed urgently and
radically, so that this violence stops and in particular so that we can
finally all go out in the evening without constantly checking our
glasses and doubting their contents.
Support for all rape victims
Rallies and demonstrations took place in 40 different cities in France
on September 14 following a national call: they were welcomed by Gisèle
Pélicot herself, during a media interview. These mobilizations were an
opportunity to speak out to make visible the scale of the political
issues, to cover the streets with magnificent and inventive placards, to
meet up and stick together. In Rennes, 600 people gathered; the
microphone was made available and many victims of VSS and incest came to
testify to show how this violence is not isolated. We are not alone, but
numerous, determined, and together we will destroy this deadly system
that ruins our lives.
Christine (UCL Sarthe)
Validate
[1]CIVIISE: Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence against
Children.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Viols-de-Mazan-L-affaire-Pelicot-pas-tous-les-hommes
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