dIn a recent column, Sylviane Agacinski correctly recalls that Mazan’s rape trial is not that of “men”and that not all men are potential rapists. We would gladly grant him this if his entire statement were not aimed at describing this process by dismissing #metoo, as if he wanted to somehow return “before” this vast social movement. On the contrary, I believe that we can only understand the main social issue of this trial, and in particular what it reveals about the persistence of common machismo, if we place it within #metoo, where it provides important advances.
A phrase is at the center of the debate: “In this case, incriminating “masculinity” is drowning the fish of nameless sexual violence in the murky waters of non-consensual sexual relations, sometimes difficult to prove, such as intramarital rape. » If we understand it correctly, on the one hand there would be real and terrible rape, and on the other, a whole series of dubious relationships, where the lack of consent is not enough to characterize rape. Combining the two would be “drown the fish”. Now everyone knows that it is precisely by venturing into these “Troubled waters of non-consensual sexual relations” and rape “difficult to prove”Relegated for so long to the shadows of private life, and by allowing hundreds of thousands of victims to defy shame and dare to speak, #MeToo has revealed to everyone a true continent of hidden sexual violence.
The disagreement is then clarified when we discover that the presentation of the process focuses solely on Dominique Pelicot, “the main accused”. Not a word about the other 50, who are completely erased from reflection. A surprising choice when we know that the current social debate around this process does not focus on the husband, each of whom easily recognizes that he has committed crimes of exceptional gravity, but precisely on his 50 co-defendants. Over the last month, a whole reflection on social gender relations, toxic masculinity, the causes and denial of rape has been developed about them.
Hidden continent of sexual violence
Here we find, once again, #metoo. Seven years ago, a new feminist generation took over from the 1980s mobilization against rape and took a decisive step forward. While we used to say “When a woman says no, it means no.”#metoo has advanced collective consciousness on two main levels. Firstly, by demonstrating that the most frequent rape, by far, is not that perpetrated by a stranger in a corner of the forest (as in the famous Aix trial of 1978), but what we can call “acquaintance rape”which gave rise to extensive reflection on male behavior in general. Not all men are rapists, but rapists are ordinary men, in the sense that they are your parents, your brothers, your wives, your priests, your bosses, your colleagues, your sports coaches, etc.
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