First Lady Brigitte Macron “wishes and hopes” in response to the stories that better legislation will be introduced. State Secretary Adrien Taquet of Youth Affairs says: “We have to hurry”. “If the law needs to be amended, we will do that,” said group chairman Christophe Castaner of the ruling party LREM.
Book immediate cause
The hashtag #metooinceste was launched by a feminist organization on Saturday. He thus responded to the publication of a book at the beginning of this month. In it, lawyer Camille Kouchner describes how her twin brother was abused by his stepfather from the age of thirteen. The brother himself remained anonymous, but stated that the facts in the book are correct.
The allegations sparked uproar because the stepfather was a ‘well-known’ Frenchman: political scientist Olivier Duhamel, who has also been a member of the European Parliament and often acted as a commentator on French television and radio.
Duhamel halted all his activities as a researcher and in the media, but did not react further to the publication of the book. Justice has now started an investigation. In recent days, it turned out that several people in the scientist’s entourage had known about the abuse for years. But everyone was silent.
#metooinceste has to break the silence. According to a poll at the end of last year, one in ten French say they have been a victim of incest. That is “two to three children per school class”, is now often repeated on Twitter.
Stricter approach
Several initiatives have recently been taken against incest in the French parliament. There is a bill to tackle sex between adults and minors more strictly. The police or the judiciary often investigate whether a child ‘consented’ to sex with an adult. Several politicians want to include in the law that a child, for example younger than 13 or 15, can never consent.
There is also a debate about prescription. Now a perpetrator can no longer be prosecuted if the facts took place more than thirty years ago. Critics consider this unjustified, precisely because families often remain silent about the abuse for years. “Prescription is a license for incest,” said victim association Face à l’inceste.
Furthermore, a special parliamentary committee has been formed to investigate incest. But that does not go without a struggle. The chairman, the socialist Elisabeth Guigou, was forced to resign a few days ago. She turned out to be good friends with Olivier Duhamel.
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