Those under 26 are not spared by the scourge of violence within the couple.

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  • The violence suffered by young women is underestimated in France.

    A study published Tuesday by the

    '

    Association Full speed ahead (s), made from hundreds of testimonies collected online, analyze their experiences.

  • A public very little noticed by the aid structures, in particular because these young women have great difficulty identifying themselves as victims and talking about what they are going through.

At the age when they should be carefree, they are already marked by life.

Young women are not spared from violence.

To better understand what they are experiencing, the

'

Association Full speed ahead (s)

unveils this Tuesday a study based on testimonials collected through his chats *.

If studies on the subject are rare, that carried out by Enveff in 2000 already showed that 20% of women victims of domestic violence in Ile-de-France were between 20 and 24 years old.

“A figure that underestimates the phenomenon, because there is a form of invisibility of these young victims in France.

Contrary to popular belief, violence does not wait for marriage and children to express itself, ”says Clémence Pajot, director of the Aubertine Auclert center.

"In 60% of cases, violence takes place within the framework of the couple"

According to the En avant tout (s) study, “in 60% of cases, violence takes place within the framework of the couple.

They are mainly victims of their spouses (33.3%) or ex-spouses (26.7% of cases) ”, explains Louise Delavier, coordinator of the study.

And the people who carry out this violence are mainly men (92%).

The victims, who were on average 20 years old at the time of the facts, said they were regularly subjected to violence of various kinds.

Psychological attacks represent 67% of declarations, sexual violence 47% and physical attacks 33%.

“Young women suffer insults and blackmail, are devalued and lose self-confidence.

And many evoke forced sex, ”comments Aurore Pageot, head of research at En avant tout (s).

Unsurprisingly: young women under 26 are more the target of cyberviolence than their elders (20% against 15%).

“They are an extension of other forms of violence.

They are manifested by a control of the activities of the young woman online, a pressure to respond very quickly to all messages, online threats, humiliation on the Web through the dissemination of photos or videos of a sexual nature. », Notes Aurore Pageot.

"Psychological violence is today extremely trivialized"

But it is clear that this violence often remains hidden under the hood.

Because only 23% of victims under 26 speak to a loved one, 11% to a psychologist and 3% to an association specializing in the fight against violence against women.

“If they do not tell their parents about it, it is first and foremost to protect them, because they fear making them suffer by confiding in them that they have suffered physical or sexual violence in particular.

Some prefer to be silent because they fear that their parents will minimize their suffering or that they will make them feel guilty by telling them that they have looked for it ", explains Ynaée Benaben, co-founder of En avant tout (s)" And if these young women remain off the radar of associations fighting against violence, it is also that they do not identify the structures that could help them, do not have the culture of the telephone and prefer to go and confide in strangers on the social networks ”, analyzes Louise Delavier.

If the young girls keep their wounds in silence, it is because “they do not necessarily identify as victims.

And this because psychological violence is now extremely trivialized and some young women undergo the "romanticization" of jealousy on the part of their spouse.

It is understood as a way of expressing love.

And the spouse uses it as an excuse to justify his violence and thus reverses the guilt on their victim, ”comments Louise Delavier.

A position of domination over their victim

Moreover, these young women are often under the influence of their attacker, which prevents them from speaking.

In 70% of cases, he is older than them, which represents a factor of domination.

On the other hand, 80.1% of victims under 26 are financially dependent on their spouse and do not have the possibility of having their own home.

A hold that can last a long time, "because in 58.4% of cases, a person under 26 years of age remains locked in his relationship for two years because of his vulnerability or his lack of resources", notes Louise Delavier.

And the more this violence takes hold over time, the more young women tend to trivialize it: "They will persuade themselves that what they undergo is inherent in all married life, or even that they deserve to be treated. so.

And as several studies have shown, violence experienced in adolescence increases the likelihood of experiencing violent partner relationships in adulthood, ”Ynaée Benaben warns.

Hence the need for associations to go out and meet them.

This is what En avant tout (s) does, which, in addition to its chat, makes interventions in schools.

A way, too, "to make young men understand that they have other ways of building their masculinity than by having absolute control over their partner," says Louise Delavier.

* Analysis of 1,416 chat conversations held between November 2019 and June 2020 on the commentonsaime.fr website. 

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  • Violence

  • Sexism

  • Violence against women

  • gender equality

  • Society

  • Aggression