A Challenge for Women in Modern Day France by Emily Bailey
Sara was lying there, on the hospital bed, in between life and death. Her slit wrists were wrapped in bandages and attached to the IV drip. Her beautiful, pale face was expressionless, her sunken eyes staring at the blank ceiling. Friends and family were devastated. Nobody knew her reasons for wanting to put an end to her life. Nobody knew the traumatic experiences she’d lived throughout her childhood that led her to harm herself. Nobody knew that the person responsible was sitting in the waiting room, calling himself Sara’s father.
Women have been fighting for justice since the beginning of civilization, giving all they have and devoting their every muscle to find equality in this world. In France, many challenges have been confronted and overcome, yet there still exist many that girls and women continue to face each day. Reading so many articles on this matter in the past few months, I have come to realize that incest is still a gravely serious problem in France today. Girls and women face trauma every day, denying the truth about the damaging experiences of incest.
Incest is the felony of forcing a blood-related family member to have sexual intercourse. In France, incest is seldom discussed, and therein lies the difficulty for girls and women. Could that be why Sara closes her mouth, and opens her veins instead ? Before 2016, the act was not considered a crime, only the act of rape. In 2016, the terms were slightly modified, deeming rape a higher degree crime when it was incestuous rape. Nonetheless, the criminal offense is still today not separately distinguished. Furthermore, a child who accuses an individual of incest must provide evidence that he or she did not consent, proving the use of violence or coercion. A child. Sara. In November 2020, Ipsos created a poll, showing that about 10% of French children have suffered from forced sexual intercourse by one of their family members. 78% of them were females. The same poll shows that in 2009, 3% of the French population were victims of incest. These figures vividly portray a powerful upsurge. But when will it stop? Were the numbers not enough ? Will anecdotes and testimonials help lower the numbers?
On January 7th, 2021, the French lawyer Camille Kouchner published a book in which she accuses her step-father of incestuous rape of her twin brother. That same week, her book was the best seller in the country. Shortly after, the hashtag #Metooincest was all over social media and was used by victims, recounting their personal experiences. The French actress Anne Parillaud, who received a best actress César in 1991, admitted in April 2021 that she had been raped by her father. To protect herself, she denied the truth, an example of traumatic memory. Another French actress, Isabelle Carré, revealed in January 2021 that she had been a victim of incest more than thirty years before. She, too, never faced the reality of what had happened, but tweeted that she “felt an incredible emotion” to know that she “is not alone”.
Solutions do exist and can be put in place to create change for girls and women. France should implement stricter enforcement of legislation regarding incest. The government should review and rewrite what defines proof, and understand that a girl living these types of horrors, already has sufficient trouble speaking up, and if she does, she deserves the right to be heard, recognized and acknowledged. Fortunately, President Emmanuel Macron promised on January 23rd, 2021, to “better protect child victims of incest
and sexual violence”. If he keeps his word, this promise could hopefully lead to more opendiscussions of the problem. Creations of forums would lead the Saras of this world to talkabout their trauma, thus avoiding disastrous consequences. Girls and women should not feellike they are alone in this battle. They should feel able to express themselves. They should beheard. Women deserve better.