December 27, 2023 - 3:00pm
The French are famously relaxed about sex and relationships. Too relaxed, according to thousands of women who took part in demonstrations in French cities last month, protesting about high levels of sexual and domestic violence. Their point was proved on Christmas Day, when more than 60 celebrities published an open letter defending the latest high-profile Frenchman accused of rape, sexual assault and harassment.
The signatories, who include the British actress Charlotte Rampling and the singer Carla Bruni, claim that actor Gérard Depardieu has been the victim of a “lynching”. The 74-year-old Depardieu has been accused of rape, sexual assault and harassment by more than a dozen women over the last five years. He was placed under investigation on suspicion of rape and sexual assault in 2020 after a complaint by an actress. Police dropped the charge but it has been re-opened on appeal, and a second case was opened three months ago when another actress accused him of groping her on the set of a film in 2007.
“When we attack Gérard Depardieu in this way, it is art that we attack,” his supporters announced this week. “Through his genius as an actor, Gérard Depardieu contributes to the artistic influence of our country.” It is a massive non-sequitur, as though a brilliant performance in a film means that someone couldn’t possibly be guilty of sexual misconduct. The accusations against the actor have yet to be tested in court but the sentiments echo remarks made last week by President Emmanuel Macron. He prejudged the issue in a TV interview, declaring that Depardieu has been the target of a “manhunt”.
The effect of such remarks is to silence women who might otherwise have reported less well-known men to the police. And there is a crying need for sexual and domestic violence to be taken seriously in France, where official figures put the number of rapes or attempted rapes reported each year at 94,000.
This year, at least 121 women had been killed by a current or former partner by November — and that was before a horrific discovery was made by police in an apartment in Meaux, a town 25 miles from Paris, on Christmas Day. The bodies of a mother and four children aged between nine months and 10 years lay in different rooms in what a prosecutor described as a “very violent crime scene”. The children’s father, who had previously been accused of domestic violence, was arrested on suspicion of murder the following day. It follows a series of familicides in the Paris area in recent months, including the murders of three female children by their father in November. In October, a police officer killed himself after killing his three daughters.
Most of the men accused of such unspeakable crimes are known only to their own friends and families. They will never win awards or be profiled in national newspapers. But their behaviour demonstrates the urgent need for a sea change in attitudes towards allegations of violence against women in France. Making excuses for famous men accused of rape creates a culture of impunity, telling women that their allegations against ordinary men are unlikely to be believed.
In 2017, Macron pledged to crack down on “horrific and shameful” violence against women, describing French society as “sick with sexism”. Judging by recent comments from celebrities, including the President himself, it evidently still is.
Joan Smith is a novelist and columnist. She has been Chair of the Mayor of London’s Violence Against Women and Girls Board since 2013. Her book Homegrown: How Domestic Violence Turns Men Into Terrorists was published in 2019.
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SubscribeLet’s not conflate accusations with actual homicides. As for Depardieu, allegations by “more than a dozen women over the last five years” seem well outside the bounds of outliers and one offs. It’s either an orchestrated smear campaign or there is something to all the smoke.
Making excuses for famous men accused of rape creates a culture of impunity, telling women that their allegations against ordinary men are unlikely to be believed.
And slogans like metoo & believeher created a similar impunity for accusers, treating every allegation as irrefutable fact, even when some skepticism was warranted. It’s not good for anyone. Not actual victims, not men, no one.
1. 121 case for country with 65 millions population.
2. Would it be better to analyze who were murderers, age, ethnicity?
No, we have to declare crusade against all men as potential murderers!
Hysterical women will destroy Western civilization much more effectively than all the martyrs.
As I recall, one of the accusers, a young actress, decided to consult Depardieu about her career and visited him at the hotel where he “raped” her. But he didn’t seem to give any advice, so she came to him again. Of course, he “raped” her again. I think she got the advice the second time because the third time she didn’t come.
I think she got the advice the second time because the third time she didn’t come.
I thought the French were supposed to be good lovers.
According to the UN domestic violence figures are approximately level across the world, ie, it is a part of the human condition. We would all prefer there to be no violence at all, but we are adults and recognise that the world is far from ideal, therefore we need to deal with the reality of the potential for violence in the domestic environment, as well as everywhere else.
Some countries have better strategies than others, one of the most effective is to provide mediation and impartial support to couples in trouble. The feminist argument “men must change” is naive, unrealistic and self-defeating; it antagonises men, it absolves women of all agency and responsibility and is destroying trust between the sexes.
Let’s create a system that supports couples including psychological support, mediation, financial advice, early childhood advice. That would be a truly grown up approach to the problem and we might just manage to minimise domestic violence in the UK, which is the best outcome we can hope for, realistically.
This is without a doubt one of the most sensible comments on this topic that I have ever come across.
Agree
I very much doubt the UN figures if rates of ‘domestic violence are approximately level across the world’. I suspect the numbers are fixed by making definitions of domestic violence different for different countries or by ignoring the refusal of police authorities to record crimes or in the extreme the non-treatment of violence against wives and children as a crime. Marital rape is still a crime in many countries, as it was in the UK until around 40 years ago.
Then there is the question of why focus solely on domestic violence when much of the sex-based violence against women is outside of the home.
I think you mean marital rape still is NOT a crime in many countries, and wasn’t in the UK until the 1990s. Otherwise, great comment. I would add there is probably considerable variation in reporting of spousal violence in different countries.
Great comment, though you risk some people accusing you of being complacent about DV.
One of the most important changes we need is to see DV in psychological rather than political terms, and to devise strategies for dealing with it accordingly. One of the most obvious is to try and equip everyone with the skills they need to manage their own emotions effectively.
In the case of Depardieu there is another component. Women often prefer high-status men. This is biologically determined. And if now, obeying the dictates of fashion, ladies who had sex with Depardieu accuse him of rape, I have the right to have certain doubts
Excellent points. The world would be a better place if folks like you led society. Thank you!
I have to say that GD always comes across as a bit of a pig – but if he is getting this much support, there must be more than one side to this story. I wish the author would give us more information, rather than assume guilt, and then apparently deduce that if a lot of people are supporting him, French culture must be guilty too.
France is not America, and is not generally so shocked that a man might put his hand on a woman’s knee without first seeking explicit consent. Some American influenced feminists may feel that France needs to take the American metoo cure – but I’m not sure that is the case for the majority of French people.
A man putting his hand on a woman’s knee is not rape.
It would be interesting to know the age of the women supporting GD. I suspect they are mostly of a maturity such that they could walk around GD’s house in the nude all day long and not get raped by him. Older women often fail to support younger, more attractive women out of jealousy. (This comment is not directed at those older women who can see sexual abuse for what it is).
I’m not quite sure what your point is, but that is one of the most sexist, misogynistic comments I’ve ever read.
Not to mention ageist….
No delete option, sorry
The statute of limitations on these crimes for adults should be six months. How can someone defend themselves a decade and a half after an alleged criminal offence?
Or 51 years as is the case with Soldier F, formerly of the SAS and Parachute Regiment, and now currently awaiting “the show trial of the century” in Belfast.
One has to wonder at the circumstances surrounding the two recent familicides the author references. Both fathers had three daughters. The dead can’t speak.
their ethnicity may be a vital aspect to those stories…
Not necessary. Family relationships can be extremely difficult. It’s not only men who are prone to violence, it’s just that violence from women is usually expressed in humiliation of a man’s dignity
Humiliating someone is not a crime, though. Husbands who beat, rape or kill their wives are committing crimes.
Are you implying that humiliating remarks equate to murder?
Coercive control, including humiliation, is a crime in the UK as part of domestic violence legislation.
Coercive control may include humiliation, but humiliation by itself, whilst unpleasant & crass, is not a crime. Nor should it be.
Like every Jane, you are sure you can spit to the face of man and get nothing in revenge.
Unfortunately, this is not always so. There is a nice story of Jack London about women of such kind “Under the Deck Awnings”
Yep, don’t we hear many stories of men using their supposed humiliation as justification for extreme brutality. Fragile egos and obsession with masculine superiority might be risible to see were it not for the dire outcomes faced by the objects of their revenge.
Thank you, Claire!
You understood me perfectly, because you know the power women have over men and you know how dangerous women’s weapons can be if they use them.
To the rest, I will answer everyone at once – my wife never knew and does not know where to take the garbage out of the house 🙂
That was just a piece of factual information El Uro, not my opinion.
I’m not at all sure “coercive control” should be on the statute book as a crime, anymore than “hate crime” should be. They are both too subjective to be crimes imo.
Being humiliated, whether you are a man or a woman, is no excuse for violence. Perhaps it should be taken into consideration when sentencing, for example when one spouse has consistently humiliated the other over long periods of time, but ultimately if violence has occured then that is a crime.
Just to be clear, in my opinion, a man should never strike a woman. If your wife or lover riles you to a potentially violent reaction get help or get out of the relationship fast.
Same applies if you’re a woman who’s husband or lover riles you to violence. 30 men were killed by their female partners 2020-2022 according to the ONS, that’s only about 10% of the total number of domestic homicides, but just as horrifying nevertheless.
It leads to murder, and I understand a man who did it.
This is the difference between you and me. Judge not, that ye be not judged.
America laughs at European crime statistics in general and this one is no exception. Numbers like this would not be a crisis, but rather a cause for celebration in our multicultural paradise.
The most recent statistics I could find for the USA were for 2015 where about 55% of the 3500 or so female homicides were caused by intimate partner violence, which works out to about 1900, about twenty nine times as many as the ‘crisis’ of male chauvinist violence unfolding in France. America does have about 333 million people, over five times as many as France, so adjusting for population we only have about triple the number of intimate partner murders of women. That sounds slightly less awful at least. A bit of perspective for any Frenchman who might be reading. It could be worse.
Judging from the 13 comments so far, the majority of commenters appear to be (a) men and (b) struggling to take Joan Smith’s piece seriously.
Just making an observation.
The majority of commenters on Unherd are always men. When women comment, some agree with men on the topic, and some don’t.
Just making an observation.
When women comment, some agree with SOME men on the topic, and some don’t.
Just making an observation.
Of course not!
Frenchmen rather like Italians are addicted to ‘bottom pinching’. It’s a cultural thing and to stop it would be rather like asking a spider to STOP eating flies.
If every woman reported every rape to the police in a timely manner then the number of rapes might be reduced. Rapists might fear investigation and allegations (and any evidence) would be fresh.
So, some of the solution rests with women.
This comment is risible. The police make the process so punitive for victims that few can stay with it through to a court case, and even when they do, it takes several years to come to court. Many women victims reported being raped by that Met officer, who carried on his crimes for years.
Thx for your comments. The overt misogyny in this comments section is shocking. It’s funny, because I get crap from some feminists who attack me as some right wing nut because I favor much stronger prevention measures w/ abortion, & believe that students accused of anything criminal on a campus should be dealt w/ in a govt court or not at all.
But then i’m here and wow, I think there will always be a minority of men who really, really hate women–resent is a better word, because it’s a simmering, unresolved, corrosive kind of thing that they take to the grave. No matter the data about femicide, rapes, assaults, exploitation, harassment, discrimination. . . their first impulse seems to be to blame, control, attack, project onto, exploit, whatever. There appears to be no self-reflection whatsoever.
I think it comes from unresolved expectations of entitlement, plus a lack of self-efficacy about their own sexual desires. They seem to think women have all of this power of them–and also, aren’t giving them deference due for just being men. It’s simple. You’re just equal, and you’re responsible for your sexual feelings, and nobody owes you physical intimacy. Believe that, and ironically, they’d have all of those “hot women” they think nature promises them. But it’s more fun to project & fume.
It would be wise of Macron to steer clear of all matters sexual given his background.
No delete option sorry
Alright then anyone who makes a motivated accusation of a ‘terf’ being a fascist must be automatically correct too. There’s no smoke without fire
As a centre to left-leaning terf myself I’ve never engaged in any right-wing militaristic authoritarianism, so I refute any suggestion that I’m fascist.
Clearly, when it comes to opinion on contentious matters, there is a huge amount of smoke generated by the fire of self-righteousness.
Macron only prejudiced the outcome by defending Depardieu after his culture minister prejudiced the outcome by condemning Depardieu.
It may never come. I think the French are less gullible/tolerant of the innumerable “#tag grifters” that crowd out anything meaningful.
Fair question from the author.
In France, the slogan #BalanceTonPorc (in place of #MeToo) was deemed too rude by many illuminati and soon became suppressed, perhaps because it identified the problem so acutely. Nonetheless, the flame lives on; vide, the women at Cannes expressing outrage about a notorious wife-beater being feted there recently. All the same, other wife-beaters are available and many regard it as their patriarchal right, so who, pray, are others to judge.
In the anglo-sphere, #MeToo has largely led only to performative words, not to mention the rise of #DARVO, so why should the French be any different.
Nevertheless, it is depressing to see notable female actors leaping to the defence of a man because he once played good parts in well regarded films.
It’s still a fair question, even in the absence of a good answer.
Plus ça change, plus c’est le même chose
Hope the French Metoo movement is quite different than the one in the US. The one in the US did very little good as it was consumed by the Feminist ideology of hatred of men. The ideology where all women are victims of men, all things they don’t like, wrong choices they make in life are blamed on men. Zero self reflection. Women were competing who can create more victimhood narratives as that was the social currency with other women. Women without being sexually victimized by men were deemed unattractive and undesirable in women circles and this incentivized them to invent these narratives.
Can you provide any evidence for false allegations being made? Bearing in mind acquittal does not necessarily mean innocence.
What a bizarre projection. Because he values women only insofar as they are “attractive” to men, he assumes we just sit around competing w/ each other for men.
There is a section in one of the evidential videos in which Depardieu says he weighs 124 kilos (273 pounds). Then he touches a woman on the shoulder and quickly corrects himself: “Wait, I’m not erect now. With an erection, I weigh 126 [kilos].″
He should have had a career in standup.
If that’s his attitude he must have been an utterly useless lover, for a woman at least. Some gay men appear to be impressed by dimensions….
The metoo in the US was equally carefully managed choreography. Not Weinstein – that was genuine enough. He was hardly unique in Hollywood though, and then there’s all of the visitors to Epstein’s island that remain unreported on.
The choreography was to move it down the chain to Louis CK’s admittedly odd behaviour, and then Aziz Ansari had a bad date.
Later the movement claimed all men were responsible for the actions of some men.
If every male is responsible for all actions of the elites then why are we even talking about other Hollywood producers? But then again we aren’t.
Look to yourselves, fellas, not the guys doing the raping in the plush Hollywood suites.
Choreography is a very good way to describe our entire world these days. Virtually everything we see online is choreographed with only one goal in mind, to get us to see more and more and more. Not to inform or educate, but to click HERE and HERE and HERE.
We even choreograph our own lives by making social media posts of completely choreographed events. Nothing is real anymore. Sorry, just musing at year-end.
You have misunderstood what women mean when they object to the “not all men” mantra. What they actually mean is that those men who are rapists don’t have it tattooed on their foreheads. This is relevant re the loss of single sex spaces. Women are required to accept men in dresses in their rape relief centres, their changing rooms and toilets. Since it isn’t possible to tell which men in dresses are safe, and which ones intend to film women and post them on porn hub, or assault them directly, the only answer is to keep all men out. Which everyone understood until 5 years ago.
(The porn hub ref is to Primark becoming a category on porn hub immediately after making all their changing rooms “gender neutral”. Thousands of films of women changing were uploaded. Following public outrage, Primark reinstated men’s and women’s changing rooms, but still allow men in dresses in the women’s. During the gender neutral phase, men didn’t even have to don dresses; lots of dodgy men filmed women by holding their mobiles under partitions).
Exactly, And I believe that trans-identified men serving prison terms are five times more likely to have been convicted of sexual assault. It’s baked in.
Some homosexual transsexuals have spoken out about having their identity hijacked by a bunch of straight, porn-addicted, incel-ish men looking for a way to predate upon vulnerable girls & women. I’ve never met a woman threatened by a very effeminate transsexual of the kind Blanchard described in his important typology in around 2004 or so (the book for which he and even his children faced harassment & death threats). It’s the straight guys in drag that are terrifying, the ones who claim that sexual exhibitionism & voyeurism against females are their new civil right.
Absolutely this. The men who get defensive about women’s insistence on their single sex spaces miss the point (and are probably also the most likely to be fetishists or perverts)
In another example of ensuring safety for all: everyone is fully checked before boarding a commercial aircraft, despite the fact that we’re not all terrorists, Boundaries or checks are in place for the avoidance of doubt.