They line up in front of a courthouse in southeastern France, from morning to evening, and have gathered in the thousands in cities across the country. They hold signs reading, “one rape every six minutes,” “not all men but always a man,” and “giving in is not consenting.”

They chant: “Rapist we see you, victim we believe you.”

Women across France are rallying in support of Gisèle Pelicot, a 72-year-old reluctant icon whose husband is on trial in the city of Avignon for systematically drugging her and inviting dozens of men, 50 of whom are now his co-defendants, into their home to rape her over nearly a decade.

The shocking case has sparked what many women in France call a long-overdue reckoning over “rape culture” and systemic sexism in the way the judicial system handles sexual violence.

    • JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      No, no one is complicit in anything by their very existence. You don’t get to blame people for other people doing something bad in a group they didn’t choose to belong to.

    • Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      actually decent men are aware that they are complicit by their very existence as men under the patriarchy

      Could you fucking imagine saying this about any other group of people

      • CyberMonkey404@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Sure can. There’s a lot of “blaming citizens of countries for things they have no say in” nowadays