The case of a Parisian woman who says she was cared for for sex and repeatedly raped by 20 firefighters over a period of two years from the age of 13 has divided French society. The case, which has become part of the recent awkward conversations between the French class thinking about the age of consent, incest and exploitation, will be heard on Wednesday before the highest court in France. On Sunday, hundreds of women took to the streets of Paris to demand justice and an end to what they call the cultural acceptance of the blame of the victims and the flagrant rape usually disguised as consent.
The 25-year-old woman, whom the French media called “Julie”, accused all 20 firefighters from various fire stations in Paris of rape after a firefighter named “Pierre” assisted when she suffered a severe anxiety attack in 2008.
Pierre allegedly found her contact information in the medical record and began bombarding her with “affectionate messages” that soon became sexual in nature. She says he persuaded her to undress during a video call, which she did. Then he started sending the phone number to other firefighters who asked him to do the same. At the time, she wrote in her diary that she was “terrified and paralyzed by fear” of what was happening.
Three of the firefighters accused of the woman admitted that they had sex with her, sometimes in groups and often in full uniforms. On one occasion, in November 2009, she was taken to one of the fire stations when she invited two colleagues – all three raped her in full uniform. The three were charged with “sexual violence” and sentenced to only seven years in prison. None of the men is accused of rape, which is sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Firefighters who admit that they had sex with the minor insist that he agreed and that the young teenager of that time forced him to be happy and even flirted with them. One of the defendants said that he had sex with her in a small toilet stand in a Parisian hospital, but that he noticed “no signs of resistance” or vulnerability on the part of the teenager.
Because France does not have an official age of consent, such cases often come to the victim’s shame, as defense attorneys work to prove that the victim was somehow dressed seductively or, in this case, acted in such a way as to give consent. , such as undressing during a video call.
France has been debating for years the introduction of a consent age for sex and in 2018 almost passed a law that would make sex with anyone under 15 considered rape, but the law was not passed after groups of men said that it would result in an “assumption of guilt” for men who were themselves victims of flirtatious women.
The woman’s mother, who spoke to the press, said she was shocked to learn that her daughter had been sexually exploited. She said in an interview that she even prepared desserts for Pierre and the other firefighters who helped the teenager since then with her convulsions caused by anxiety, which happened so often. Firefighters were called to her home 130 times during the two years of rape. “I thought she was the last person to do this because she helped her so many times and saw how vulnerable she was,” the victim’s mother said, according to an interview published in guard.
Groups of women protesting in Paris on Sunday say the case highlights long-standing notions in French society that have allowed sex offenses to go unpunished. “Every stereotype about rape is in this case: the judges and the psychiatrist say that Julie is a liar, that she agreed to have sex with all those men and that she lies that she was raped because she is ashamed,” said the victim’s lawyer, Marjolaine. Weather in Vignola. .
On Sunday, Marguerite Stern, from a feminist group l’Amazone, took to the streets of Paris. “They fought alone for 10 years, now thousands of feminists from all over France are joining them,” she told reporters, referring to the fact that the victim first accused firefighters a decade ago. We demand that firefighters be tried for rape and not for “sexual assault.” This culture of misogyny in our courts must end. ”