Laetitia did not have as much support. At 8 years old, she was the victim of incest and when she reported it, her family turned their backs on her. “I filed a complaint and I have been on trial for three years against my father who is not bothered at all. He even just had a new child! Justice is not effective, thieves are condemned more than an oppressor or an abuser.”
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Embarrassment, the fear of being judged, the feeling of shame and guilt, the impression of powerlessness, the possible consequences, the fear of accepting a reality… are all barriers that block attacked women from breaking the silence. . “I was a victim of incest when I was less than three years old and then ‘loaned’ to my father’s friends. Later, she found herself with a husband who had total control over her actions: I couldn’t wear pants or cut my hair, I had to wear heels, respect a dress code and always say yes sexually.relates Athena who rebuilt herself after 12 years of psychoanalysis and the discovery of feminism. In protest, she changed her first and last name at age 45. “I had traumatic amnesia. When everything comes back up, it’s horrible and you have to deal with it. Several times I wanted to end things because we think we’re no longer worth anything.”
Sometimes the attacks go back years and speech is released much later because the victim realizes that what happened is not normal or quite simply because the memories reappear. “It was almost 10 years ago, I was at a party with ‘friends’ and I got drugged. The next day, I didn’t remember anything. I was told that I had slept with two men. It was while talking with another victim that I understood what happened.”confides a demonstrator. Another activist admitted to being the victim of a very old rape only two years ago and since then she has been looking for almost non-existent support groups.
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Dark future for women’s rights
To stop the machinery of patriarchy, activists advocate raising awareness among women and men, which begins at a very young age. The relational, emotional and sexual life education courses (Evras) are a good start.
With the rise of the far right both abroad and in Belgium, demonstrators fear the worst for women’s rights. “I have a 5 year old daughter, I refuse to let her live with the normalization of violence and inequality towards women. But the future is not bright”reacts a mother. “We must mobilize because the government will not put laws in our favor”believes Auréa. For Aurélie, “the future is a bit catastrophic for women”.
