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.

  • @[email protected]
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    42 months ago

    Yeah the problem is the picture on the article and not the men on here who took immediate offense to it instead of paying attention to the actual message and problem. Which is rampant sexual assault that is basically being ignored by the authorities and society at large.

    This woman was unknowingly raped by more than 50 men (possibly hundreds) over god knows how long. All orchestrated by her husband. Some of those people were supposedly highly respected individuals and yet not one of them saw anything wrong with what they were doing.

    But your anger is with the woman holding up a sign saying “not all men but always men”. You are exactly like the people who took umbrage at the black lives matter protests because they were saying “black lives matter” and not “all lives matter”. To be blunt, you’re missing the message. Not because you don’t actually get it. But because you don’t want to.

    • @[email protected]
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      62 months ago

      Holy shit, take a breath, calm down, and go touch grass. Funny that you see no problem with generalizations like “always a man”, but fail to see the irony in your response. Do more men than women commit sexual violence/asssaults? Absolutely. Is it ALWAYS a man who is the one committing this crime? Absolutely not.

      Your constant refusal to even acknowledge this fact is why you’re not convincing anyone of your points.

      • @[email protected]
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        12 months ago

        Your constant refusal to even acknowledge this fact is why you’re not convincing anyone of your points.

        Everyone arguing with me and downvoting me came in with their minds already made up. And downvotes don’t bother me. I’d rather speak the truth to angry ignorants than sit in silence and watch the misinformation continue to propagate unchallenged.