Stories of the Moment – by Lindsey Tramuta

I don’t think there’s a clinical term for chronic disgust, but it would go a long way toward describing my general state of being over the past few weeks. The further we get from the end of the Olympics and Paralympics, the more convinced I am that it was an idyllic break that produced a dopamine high so unusual for us in France that it only made the comedown all the more formidable. Without even taking into account the US election (are you an American living abroad? Do your thing!!), there’s plenty to haunt my dreams and send my nervous system into overdrive.

(SA trigger warning)

By now you’ve probably read or heard about one of the most shocking rape cases ever discovered in France. It’s not for nothing that it’s made headlines around the world. For ten years, Dominique Pelicot drugged his wife of 50 years, Gisèle Pelicot, and recruited 51 strangers to rape her while she lay unconscious. The men range in age from 26 to 74 and come from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. They are journalists, soldiers, firefighters, and engineers. Many have families of their own.

Pelicot’s crimes were not discovered by police until November 2020, when he was investigated for taking upskirt photos of women in a grocery store. On his computer, police found “Abuses,” a folder on a USB drive containing some 20,000 photos and videos of him and other men raping his wife while she was unconscious. For a decade, she struggled with memory loss, hair loss and weight loss. She thought she was experiencing something akin to Alzheimer’s. None of her doctors discovered or investigated abuse in her home.

In an act of enormous courage that I don’t think I would be capable of, Gisèle, now a symbol of the fight against sexual violence, has waived her right to anonymity to make the proceedings public, allowing journalists into the courtroom and shifting the shame onto her aggressors. The hope is also to raise awareness of the need for “legal recognition of coercive control”including chemical submission.

The trial unfolded as the world also learned of the horrific attack on Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei, who was set on fire by her former partner. Rebecca did not survive. Gisèle did, although she admits she felt suicidal shortly after learning what her partner had done to her. Instead, she decided to find a way to move on and do her part to ensure this did not happen to anyone else.

What shocks me to my core is not only that this violence reveals deep-seated misogyny, but also how often these acts are committed by people who know the victims. What sickens me is that three of the men who came to Pelicot’s house and chose to not to abuse Gisèle left and did not report anything. What makes me furious is that when Dominique Pelicot admitted to the rapes yesterday during the trial, he blamed his difficult childhood. He asked for forgiveness. We ask that he and the 51 depraved men who abused her serve the maximum possible sentence.

And then there is this point:

1 in 3 women worldwide are exposed to physical and/or sexual partner violence or sexual violence by non-partners in their lives. There are few who are believed or whose cases are visible enough to generate the broad support that Gisèle Pelicot has received in her quest for justice.

French women have taken to the streets to support Gisèle and what her cause means to women everywhere. What is missing is the same level of action, outrage and support from male allies. The only way this will stop is when this kind of violence is seen as a societal, HUMAN problem and not a feminist problem.

He’s an old white guy, but that’s not even the main problem. Macron seemed to pull Michel Barnier, the right-wing former Brexit negotiator and career politician, out of his pocket like a magic trick after months of luring French voters along. Sure, he has decades of experience, but his main credentials in Macron’s eyes are that he not of the left-wing coalition. Ultimately, it is a victory for Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, with whom Barnier will have to compromise to avoid a motion of censure.

I’ll let political analyst (and my friend) Rym Momtaz do the deeper interpretation:

This story has been overshadowed by many others, but it’s important to understand. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in Paris in late August after the company refused to cooperate with a French police investigation into child sexual abuse. Arrest warrants were reportedly issued after multiple judicial requests to identify a Telegram user suspected of crimes against minors went unanswered. The basis for the arrest? A fairly recent law passed in January 2023. According to Reuters, the law has “no international equivalent that criminalizes tech giants whose platforms allow illegal products or activities. It has placed France at the forefront of a group by nations take a tougher stance against criminal websites. But the law is so new that prosecutors have yet to secure a conviction.”

My friend Rahaf Harfoushwho is an *excellent* newsletter In an article on digital culture the implications were explained:

It’s unprecedented to charge the CEO of a social media platform with the content created and distributed on that platform, raising complex questions about responsibility and liability for harmful online content. If Durov can be held accountable, does that mean every other tech CEO—from Musk to Zuckerberg—can be held accountable too? The answer, like everything these days, is far from simple.

Telegram, founded by Durov in 2013 as a defiant response to Russia’s crackdown on free speech, has always positioned itself as a bastion of privacy and encrypted communications. It’s a lifeline for activists, dissidents, and everyday users seeking refuge from prying eyes. But that same promise of privacy has made it a beloved tool for those with far more sinister agendas. Durov’s hands-off approach to moderation has turned Telegram into a breeding ground for arms trafficking, drug trafficking, terrorist activities, child exploitation and conspiracy theories. The rise of encrypted spaces raises a disturbing complexity: where does private communication end and criminal activity begin?

The joke is that Emily, in the four+ years she’s been in Paris, still doesn’t speak French, and she meets Brigitte Macron before she meets a North African. The chuckles this show provides are always epic, but Brigitte Macron agreeing to a cameo takes it – and L’Elysée – to a new level of tonelessness.

🏅 BONUS: Since many of us are still in the post-Olympic blues, you’ll be happy to hear that the Paris 2024 anthem is now available on streaming platforms around the world. Listen on SpotifyListen further Apple Music.

Join me and author-journalist Cody Delistraty for a conversation about his book The remedy for sadness at The American Library in Paris on October 1st! RSVP requested for in-person attendance (no entrance fee).

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