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.

  • cheesepotatoes
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    2 hours ago

    For the love of god, how can you lack self awareness to such a degree.

    This is a post about a woman who was raped by over 100 men, orchestrated by a man who she trusted, over a span of 10 years. That’s a jaw dropping level of personal assault.

    Yet here we are, in the comments, talking about you. You and your problems. Men and their problems. For fucks sake.

    • @[email protected]
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      2 hours ago

      Same question.

      Goddamn right, because the post just had to claim all rapists are men, which I just had to refute by being raped by two women (sorry to inconvenience you.)

      Maybe next time make a sign for ALL victims of rape and sexual assault that doesn’t exclude male victims and excuse woman abusers.

      • cheesepotatoes
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        02 hours ago

        realize male victims matter too.

        Of course they do. No men were harmed in the making of this living nightmare for Gisele Pelicot, however. I apologize that I didn’t think of the men as I worked my way through reading about this absolutely horrific and disgusting event that happened to Gisele Pelicot. I’m sure as she watched the video footage of her limp body being violated and penetrated by hundreds of men, she was beside herself with grief for the plight of men.

        You matter. Your trauma matters, obviously. This assault that Gisele Pelicot went through, however, is not about you. The fact that you seem incapable of realizing that is distressing.

        Edit: Oh you didn’t censor “men” in that last edit! May want to fix that! Hahaha

        I have no clue what you’re talking about.

        Maybe next time make a sign for ALL victims

        Unironically parroting the “all lives matter” dog whistle. Good grief.

        • @[email protected]
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          12 hours ago

          Sure, and if you’ll notice, I have only taken issue with the sign, as many like it have hurt men continuously including myself. It reinforces the idea that men are defacto rapists and women are defacto innocent and it’s a bad sign. We should strive to be better than that with our slogans to include EVERYONE who gets raped, not just men or just women. The sign is a problem, and it’s hindering the goal of what should be the “stop raping” movement without qualifiers like gender rather than a movement that openly admits that they, like the rest of the world, do not give a shit about male victims.

          I’m not trying to shut their protest down, I want us to be fucking included.

          The assault has nothing to do with me, but the sign does. I will not stand for such erasure (great band, btw).

          Yeah I deleted that, I was hot on the heels of another person who is being a bigot (and literally writing “m*n” instead of “men” which I found hilarious) and I thought you were them until I read your Uname. That’s my mistake I tried to get it before you saw it, sorry! In my defense your Uname is different in my inbox vs in the comments, I would have recognized “cheese!” Lol.

          All victims matter, yes. Thanks for all but admitting you don’t give a shit about male victims though, why not just go full mask off and say it outright instead of “AlL lIvEs MaTtEr” hmm?