French victims of child abuse speak out in new #MeToo wave
PARIS — “I was 9. … It was my father. He raped me until I was 17.”
The French government pledged on Thursday to toughen laws on the rape of children after a massive online movement saw hundreds of victims share accounts about sexual abuse within their families.
The move comes in the wake of child abuse accusations involving a prominent French political expert.
France’s justice minister said Thursday the government will soon present new legal measures to better protect children, while a draft bill has started being debated at parliament to toughen laws on the rape of minors under 13.
The social media campaign was launched Saturday by activists of the French feminist group #NousToutes in reference to the #MeToo movement that sparked a global debate about sexual harassment and assault.
The #MeTooInceste hashtag overwhelmed French social media in just a few days. In French, the word “inceste” is widely used to refer to any sexual act between members of the same family, including abuse of children, stepchildren or younger siblings.
Hundreds of people shared appalling accounts about how they were sexually abused when they were children:
“I was between 11 and 14. It was my brother. I’m now 57 and still a victim of that past.”
“I was 8. Abused by my grandfather.”
“Just one amid so many others. I was 6-7-8 yearold, I don’t remember.”
Tens of thousands of people responded by sharing and commenting under the same hashtag.
Laurent Boyet, 49, was among those who tweeted. A police officer and head of the association Les Papillons (“Butterflies”) fighting against child abuse, he published a book in 2017 to tell his story. He said he was raped by his brother, who was 10 years older than him, when he was between 6 and 9.
“I really hope society is going to have the courage to face the problem,” he told The Associated Press. “We need to stop looking away.”
When he spoke to his mother, over 30 years after the abuse started, Boyet said she answered: “I believe you because I had doubts about it.”
“All the signals I had sent her, she got them but did nothing,” he recalled.
“In 2021 we cannot keep quiet anymore, we need to take action,” he added.
Boyet’s association started in September placing mailboxes in schools to allow children to express their distress through letters. Boyet said some of the written notes have led to legal action, including for alleged sexual abuse.
The feminist activist behind the #MeTooInceste campaign, Madeline Da Silva, said “we are convinced that children actually speak out and what’s a very big problem is that no one is hearing them.”
Even if children don’t say the words, they still show signs that they are suffering “and no one is trained to understand them,” she regretted.
That’s why, Da Silva said, the movement is not only about improving the laws but above all about introducing immediate, childcentered public policies.