A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #360 - Antipatriarchy - Child Sexual Abuse: The Culture of Incest (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Every year, cases of pedophilia and incest make headlines in France. 
Every year, public opinion is horrified by the actions of individuals it 
then labels as monsters and deviants. But the words of victims and 
studies on the subject suggest a different story: far from being 
isolated cases, child sexual abuse is in fact perpetuated by the various 
layers of the patriarchal system. This article focuses on some of the 
mechanisms by which this domination over children is exercised.

No one saw or heard anything. Who could have predicted that Joël Le 
Scouarnec, this honorable surgeon, would commit at least 300 rapes and 
sexual assaults on minors over a period of thirty years? Who would have 
believed that the Bétharram school, this centuries-old institution, 
harbored physical, psychological, and sexual violence? Who else would 
have imagined that this good father, this uncle, this big brother-96% of 
whom are men-would abuse the youngest member of the family, in the 
privacy of their own home?

No, no one saw anything... Or rather, did nothing. Because sexual abuse, 
especially when perpetrated on such a large scale, inevitably leaves its 
mark. Le Scouarnec had already been arrested in 2005 for purchasing 
child pornography and had been the subject of multiple reports without 
being banned from practicing. Regarding Bétharram, reports were made all 
the way to Prime Minister François Bayrou, who covered up the affair[1]. 
Moreover, every child who has experienced incest gives at least some 
clues as to what he or she is enduring: sexually explicit gestures, 
depression, eating disorders, or confiding in a trusted adult. However, 
even when the child speaks within the family, they are not believed in 
the vast majority of cases[2].

Faced with this damning observation, it must be acknowledged that this 
famous "incest taboo," regularly invoked by anthropologists and 
psychoanalysts alike, is in fact a deception. Every year in France, 
160,000 children are victims of sexual violence. The taboo is not on 
committing incest or acts of pedophilia, it is on talking about it. Such 
collective blindness is not born of an unfortunate coincidence: to 
establish and maintain itself, it requires several layers of silencing 
of victims, from the home to the state, including the justice system. 
Just as it relies on a rape culture to control women's bodies, 
patriarchy, to better establish and reproduce its domination, relies on 
a culture of incest.

The Home, a Place of Reproduction for Patriarchy
There is another popular myth: that of the pedophile prowling the 
streets or lurking outside schools, looking for easy prey. We have all 
learned, from a very young age, to be wary of strangers. It's a shame we 
weren't also taught to be vigilant around those close to us!

Indeed, in more than three-quarters of cases, child sexual abuse is 
perpetrated within the family or by a close relative. The rest of the 
time, it is often a person with institutional power over him: a teacher, 
a doctor, etc. In her reference work on the subject, Dorothée Dussy 
writes that "recent work on perpetrators of sexual assault suggests that 
the distinctions between intrafamilial and extrafamilial abusers may be 
more artificial than real"[3]. In both cases, the aggressor commits the 
act because he benefits from a position of dominance that allows him to 
take advantage of the abuse while enjoying impunity granted by the same 
abusive system. He feels no particular attraction to young people: he 
makes do with what he has at hand.

Dorothée Dussy, Le berceau des dominations. Anthropologie de l'inceste, 
La Discussion, 2013, 408 pages, 9.30 euros. These acts are perpetrated 
and tolerated thanks to a specific climate, known as an incestuous 
climate, designed to maintain psychological influence over the victims 
and those around them. Emotional blackmail, physical and psychological 
violence, a culture of secrecy and family loyalty... All of this 
contributes to intimidating the child and positioning them as objects to 
be disposed of at will rather than individuals with their own needs, 
emotions, and capacity to act[4]. Their testimony is constantly 
questioned, even in the minority of cases where their testimony extends 
beyond the family circle and reaches the courts.

Justice at the service of the aggressors
Even today, only 3% of complaints for rape of minors result in a 
conviction. The situation is worrying and has been for a long time: as 
early as 2003, a UN report warned that sexual violence against children 
and adolescents was systemically denied in France. Those who report 
abuse can be accused of lying or manipulating the children involved. 
Sometimes, to protect their children, mothers refuse to leave them with 
their ex-partners in the case of joint custody, at the risk of being 
accused of kidnapping[5].

There is even a pseudo-concept claiming that these accusations of incest 
against fathers are most often a way for mothers to obtain sole custody 
of their children: "parental alienation syndrome." It was introduced in 
1980 by the controversial child psychiatrist Richard Gardner, also known 
for his defense of pedophilia, and has been widely criticized by the 
scientific community. This didn't stop masculinist networks from 
popularizing it in France in the early 2000s, particularly through the 
SOS Papa association. Even today, this pseudo-theory continues to be 
used in incest cases.

While the number of convictions for child sexual abuse in France has 
been gradually rising since the 1990s, it fell sharply by 23% in 2005. 
This was the year following the Outreau trial, which can only be 
described as a judicial disaster. During this trial and subsequent 
appeals, thirteen of the seventeen people accused of incest, rape, and 
child sexual abuse were acquitted after the defendant, Myriam Badaoui, 
claimed to have lied to the court. Dorothée Dussy writes: "The scandal 
of the Outreau affair is not so much the proven rape of numerous 
children by numerous adults, including the children's parents, but the 
investigation that led to the indictment of individuals who were 
subsequently acquitted." Following this, numerous charges in child 
sexual abuse cases were dropped due to insufficient evidence, without 
the institution providing the means to more effectively combat sexual 
violence. The "Outreau acquitted" even received an official apology from 
the Republic, issued by then-President Jacques Chirac.

Serge Garde and Jean-Michel Garcia, Outreau, the Other Truth, a 
92-minute documentary, 2013.
The Ciivise Scam
In 2021, after numerous incest scandals in the country, Emmanuel Macron 
finally announced the creation of an Independent Commission on Incest 
and Violence Against Children (Ciivise). In its three years of 
existence, it has collected no fewer than 30,000 testimonies from 
victims of incest and childhood sexual abuse, providing many with the 
space to speak out that they had previously lacked. In November 2023, 
the commission published its report, making a total of 82 
recommendations for breaking out of denial and combating child sexual abuse.

Can we finally believe, as Macron stated, that victims "will never be 
alone again"? That would be a stretch. Throughout the commission's work, 
criticism has been leveled, particularly against its chairman, Judge 
Durand, whose methods were deemed too political, too activist, and too 
feminist. When the report was released publicly in December, neither the 
Secretary of State for Children nor any other member of the government 
deigned to attend. Following this, and faced with uncertainties 
regarding whether or not the commission would continue, 11 of its 
members-including Édouard Durand-submitted their resignations[6].

A State Policy
The government ultimately announced that it would maintain the 
commission, but with a change in its focus. Ciivise II would now focus 
on "minor victims of online prostitution and child sex crimes" and no 
longer on incest. Sébastien Boueilh, a former rugby player who had 
suffered childhood sexual abuse, was appointed to replace the former 
president. As for the vice-president, it would be pediatrician Caroline 
Rey-Salmon. An unfortunate choice: shortly after her appointment, a 
woman filed a complaint against her for rape during a gynecological 
examination. Rey-Salmon quietly resigned, followed closely by Boueilh.

What about the implementation of the recommendations of the Ciivise 
report? They are slow to be implemented. In an article from April 2024, 
Mediapart[7]reveals that contrary to what the government claimed, only a 
small handful of measures have been taken concerning them. Since then, 
some other advances have seen the light of day, such as the development 
of an official program on education in emotional and relational life and 
sexuality in schools, a subject which will be covered in the next issue 
of Alternative libertaire. But this program is under attack from 
reactionary political movements who would like to see it disappear.

Meanwhile, two to three children per class continue to experience sexual 
violence. Given the scale of the problem, and the silence perpetuated by 
a culture of incest at multiple levels of our patriarchal society, it is 
more time than ever to act.

Johanna (UCL Finistère)

Validate

[1]See last month's articles on the Scouarnec affair and on Bétharram.

[2]The podcast "Ou peut-être une nuit," created by Charlotte Pudlowski 
and published on Louis Media in 2020, offers a poignant account of the 
mechanisms that silence victims of incest.

[3]Dorothée Dussy, Le berceau des dominations. Anthropology of Incest, 
La Discussion, 2013.

[4]"Opening up discussions on incest and feeling represented: the CRIMS 
project," Lisbeth Media, December 2024.

[5]The newspaper Les Jours published a series of articles on this topic 
in 2024 entitled "I abducted my daughter."

[6]"Are you a victim of incest? Wait, the government isn't available," 
Off Investigation, February 2024.

[7]"Incest: the government's smokescreen on the recommendations of the 
Ciivise," Mediapart, April 3, 2024.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?VSS-sur-enfants-La-culture-de-l-inceste
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