The case of a Parisian woman who says she was groomed for sex and raped repeatedly by 20 firefighters over a two-year period from the age of 13 has divided French society. The case, which has become part of recent uncomfortable talks between France’s thinkers on age of consent, incest and exploitation, will be heard before France’s highest court on Wednesday. On Sunday, hundreds of women took to the streets of Paris to demand justice and end what they call the cultural acceptance of victims’ accusations and blatant rape usually disguised as consent.
The woman, now 25, who the French media has dubbed “Julie” has accused all 20 firefighters of various Paris fire stations of rape after a firefighter called “Pierre” assisted her when she suffered a severe anxiety attack in 2008. .
Pierre then found her contact information in her medical record and began bombarding her with ‘loving messages’ that soon became sexual in nature. She says he persuaded her to undress during a video call, which she did. He then started giving her phone number to other firefighters who asked her to do the same. She wrote in her diary at the time that she was “terrified and paralyzed with fear” about what was happening.
Three of the firefighters accused by the woman have admitted having sex with her, sometimes in groups and often in their full uniforms. Once in November 2009, she had been taken to one of the firefighter’s homes when he invited two colleagues – all three of them raped her in full uniform. The three have been charged with “sexual assault”, with a prison sentence of only seven years. None of the men are charged with rape, which carries 20 years in prison.
The firefighters who admit having sex with the minor claim it was consensus and that the then-young teenager instead happily obliged and even flirted with them. One of the defendants said he had sex with her in a small toilet box in a Paris hospital, but noticed “no signs of resistance” or vulnerability of the teen.
Since France does not have an official age of consent, cases like this often amount to victims’ disgrace as defense lawyers try to prove that the victim was dressed in some manner seductively or, in this case, acted in a way that allowed consent gave, like undressing. during a video call.
France has debated for years about the introduction of an age of consent for sex and nearly passed a law in 2018 that would consider sex with anyone under 15 as rape, but the law was not passed after men’s groups said it would result in “an assumption. of guilt ”for men who were themselves victims of flirty women.
The woman’s mother, who has spoken to the press, said she was shocked to learn that her daughter had been sexually exploited. She said in an interview that she even baked desserts for Pierre and the other firefighters who helped the then-teen with her fear-induced attacks, which were so common, firefighters were called to her home 130 times in the two years the alleged period of rapes have taken place. “I thought he was the last to do such a thing because he had helped her so many times and saw how vulnerable she was,” said the victim’s mother, according to an interview in the US Guardian.
Women’s groups protesting in Paris on Sunday say the case underscores long-held ideas in French society that sex crimes went unpunished. “Every stereotype about rape is in this case: the judges and the psychiatrist say that Julie is a liar, that she has agreed to have sex with all those men, and that she lies about rape because she is ashamed,” said victim attorney Marjolaine Vignola. .
On Sunday, Marguerite Stern, from a feminist group l’Amazone, took to the streets of Paris. “For ten years they fought alone, now thousands of feminists from all over France are joining them,” she told reporters, referring to the victim first accusing the firefighters ten years ago. “We demand that the firefighters be tried for rape and not for ‘sexual offense’. This culture of misogyny in our courts must end. “