Incest is still allowed there if children are not involved
The French government intends to ban incest at the legislative level. This is the first such decision taken in more than 200 years, writes The Times. State Secretary for Children Adrien Taquet (from 26 July 2020) spoke about the government’s decision.
Sexual relations with relatives are still permitted if they do not involve children. Now, however, they will be banned even among relatives over the age of 18. Such a decision was made for the first time since 1791: then incest was decriminalized due to the gradual secularization of the state.
“Regardless of age, a child cannot have sexual intercourse with a parent. It is not a question of age, but of consent [to have sex with a relative]. We are against incest, “Taquet said.
So far, the minister has not said who exactly will be affected by the law and whether the relations between the members of the foster family apply to him.
The efforts to harden legislation on incest come as part of a wider reckoning for child sex abuse. France’s highest court began considering a case Wednesday involving a woman who said she was the victim of gang rape by 20 adult firefighters when she was between the ages of 13 and 15. A lower court had initially downgraded the charges to sexual assault, but her lawyers argue it should be reclassified as rape.
On Friday, Daniel Chapellier, director of the prestigious private school Saint-Jean-de-Passy in Paris, was indicted for “sexual assault on a minor,” after a complaint was lodged by the parents of a student.
Thousands of testimonies
January 4, 2021: An article in Le Monde reveals the forthcoming publication of the book La Familia Grande by Camille Kouchner, in which she reveals the incest suffered by her twin brother. Given the prominent position of Olivier Duhamel and his relationship with the highest echelons of power, this revelation created a real shockwave. It will be followed by other revelations about juvenile delinquency involving media personalities (Gerard Louvain, Richard Berry), but also thousands of survivors who testify on social media with the hashtag MeTooIncest.
The specifics of incest: conflict of loyalty, “law of silence” that protects the aggressor for decades, individual, family and institutional denial, are at the heart of these revelations, which lead to unprecedented media visibility (130 media appearances in just two months).
