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.
Yeah it’s our fault we’re upset about being lumped in with the “always men” abusers crowd while our rapists are lauded as “never abusers” on signage like this. How dare we be so uppity to engage our anger with that sign directly.
I’m literally in here saying “that sign is a lie and it makes me angry, as a male victim of woman rapists,” we can talk about “stop raping men too” and “charge women for rape not just ‘sexual assault’ when they compel sex” later, right now we’re talking about “don’t erase us with signs like these, please fucking include us in the movement” and we probably won’t stop doing that until it happens. Why must there be “I don’t care about male victims” and “I don’t care about woman victims” groups? Can’t we just join forces as victims vs abuse?