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.
Men are trash, these comments are all the proof you need for that. Pls stop acting like women aren’t raped super disproportionately often, it just makes you look like a cunt and a rape apologist. Yes men are raped, and it’s no less horrible than when women are raped. But women get raped SO much more often, and you just can’t deny that without blatantly lying. Trying to deny it is no better than #AllLivesMatter bullshit. No shit all lives matter, but bringing that up when people put a spotlight on the struggles on a specific group only serves to distract from an actual attempt at making people’s lives better