Olivier Duhamel: French accusations of incest encourage the victims to express their opinion

Tens of thousands of people have responded to a social media campaign in France designed to address the issue of sexual abuse within families.

The campaign, with the hashtag #MeTooInceste (after the #MeToo movement), was started this weekend by NousToutes, an organization that fights sexual violence in France. Incest in French is used to mean sexual abuse by family members, including those not related to blood.

This follows accusations against a prominent political commentator, Olivier Duhamel, who is accused by his stepdaughter of abusing her twin brother 30 years ago. Mr Duhamel described the allegations as ‘personal attacks’.

The Twitter campaign started late last week with a message by 67-year-old NousToutes activist Marie Chenevance.

‘It was now or never to break the omerta [code of silence] around this issue, “Marie said. In earlier years, she said, activists encountered a” wall of silence “as they shared their stories of family abuse.

More than 80,000 people have responded to the campaign since Saturday, the organization said.

Mié Kohiyama was one of those who shared her story, along with a drawing she made when she was five years old.

In the photo, a child without a mouth appears next to the words “Help Me”. At the time, it was her way of talking about the abuse, she said, but no one heard the message.

‘When I posted this tweet on Saturday,’ she told me, ‘it’s weird to say, but I was proud of the little girl who drew this picture.

‘I tell myself that people can now understand such drawings. That was not possible forty years ago. ‘

Part of the reason why the accusations against Mr. Duhamel had such an impact, activists say, is that the report by his stepdaughter Camille Kouchner in her book La Familia Grande describes not only the alleged behavior, but also the culture of mystery that she says is surrounded. the family.

Muriel Salmona, a leading psychologist specializing in sexual violence, says the issues raised by Duhamel’s stepdaughter, along with the introduction of the new hashtag, have provided a “safe space” for victims to speak out.

Historically, she says, there has been ‘almost total impunity in France’ for family abusers, with less than 1% of rape cases against minors in court.

“The figures on violence against children are bad for most of Europe,” Dr Salmona explained. “But in France, there is a current that tolerates sexual violence against children.”

The law surrounding this issue is complicated. Sex with minors is illegal, but to prove the more serious charges of rape or sexual assault – including a child – it is necessary to prove that violence, threat, surprise or coercion were used.

If the offender is much older than the victim, or is in a position of authority, it may be considered coercion, but Dr Salmona says it is not automatic.

This means that, legally speaking, a child as young as 11 years old can be considered as consenting to sex with an adult.

Fighters have long been asking for a legal age of consent, but repeated attempts to change the law have so far failed.

A poll at the end of last year suggested that one in ten people in France had experienced sexual abuse in the family.

Marie Chenevance said she knows there will be a large number of people affected by the new campaign, but is surprised at the outpouring of evidence.

“On the one hand, the stories are sad,” she said, “but on the other hand, it feels good – it’s liberating.”