all of us, all of us – Liberation

No woman is safe from having a loved one appear for rape, or from becoming a victim. A court hearing must also allow for introspection and dialogue without excuses or commiseration, according to lawyer Anne-Sophie Laguens.

They are the ones who get up in the morning to take the children to school, who check with the childminder that the youngest has had a good adaptation period. They are the ones whose investment is praised at every school outing and who make the other parents laugh at the café after dropping off the children.

They may have spoken out in support of their girlfriends and said that some men were real bastards, that they would beat the crap out of anyone who got too close to their daughter or partner. They may be admired for their professionalism or their protection of the weak, for their integrity or their support of noble causes.

They are this man of whom we will say, as feminists who support all women, that we are the guarantors: we know him very well and we think he is incapable of attacking a woman, it must be a misunderstanding or a badly experienced breakup.

For others

They are sometimes prostrate or speak too loudly, they “put themselves in danger” or are irreproachable mothers, they are worthy victims in pain or imperfect, they sometimes speak out when we would like them to keep quiet because they are harming the cause.

They feel guilty for not remembering, for having had a little too much to drink, for not having listened to their friends or paid attention to their drink, for having overcome the ordeal when they are told they should be traumatized for life. They doubt what a woman should be like.