- The book Le Consentement by the editor of Julliard, Vanessa Springora, was published on January 2. He narrates the grip experienced by this woman when she was 14, and that she had a “relationship” - a consent that cannot be informed, she explains - with Gabriel Matzneff, a writer who was 35 years old more than her.
- Gabriel Matzneff has published numerous autobiographical books which tell of his “loves”, according to him, with adolescents or children, from the age of 8 years, without being interested in the potentially destructive consequences of these acts.
- Is the literary milieu more porous than other pedophilia circles? Several experts responded to 20 Minutes .
There is now a "Gabriel Matzneff case" as there was a "Epstein case" or a "Barbarin case". And it shakes up a whole section of society, which (re) discovers, thanks to the publication of Vanessa Springora's book, Le Consentement , how we could agree to publish for years writings praising pedophilia , or pedocrime (read the box below on the semantic debate). Around Gabriel Matzneff, writers and journalists have been body for years. Philippe Sollers published it, Bernard Pivot invited him numerous times, without contradicting it. Louis Aragon, Roland Barthes, and even Simone de Beauvoir also signed petitions written by this man, in defense of sexual relations with people under 15 years of age. Does this mean that there would be a particular porosity in the world of the arts and letters to pedophilia or hebephilia?
“Pedophilia crosses all walks of life, all styles, all genres. There is a trompe l'oeil phenomenon that makes it more visible, but that is not why there is more, ”replied Mathieu Lacambre, psychiatrist at the Montpellier University Hospital, specialist sexual violence and at the origin of the creation of a helpline for pedophiles, to avoid the act. "Just because we talk about pedophilia more easily in the literary world does not mean that we practice it more," adds Anne-Claude Ambroise-Rendu, historian and author of a History of pedophilia: 19th-21st centuries .
In other words, if there is a peculiarity of the literary environment vis-à-vis pedophilia, it does not necessarily translate into a higher "prevalence", that is to say, a greater number of pedophiles in this population (although it is difficult to state this categorically, since there are no studies by socio-professional category of pedophile criminals). But it would rather manifest itself in a different expression, thinks also Pierre Verdrager, sociologist author of The forbidden child. How pedophilia has become scandalous . Literature, explains this sociologist, is by definition a matter of fantasies, a channel of the imagination. Pedophiles who encounter literature will therefore spontaneously feel more authorized to express themselves, than those who have no literary streak. "There is a phantasmatic dimension conducive to literature", summarizes, with his words, the psychiatrist Mathieu Lacambre.
"For a writer, pedophilia is the" top of the top of the singularity ""
But if pedophiles spontaneously find acquaintances with literature, does the literary milieu "forgive" it more easily for pedophiles to express their fantasies? On this subject, the answers of our experts diverge…
"Pedophilia and pedophilia have not been more accepted or tolerated by the French literary community than by other circles," says Anne-Claude Ambroise-Rendu. It is obvious that the debate opened in May 1968 on sexual freedom but also and later on justice, preventive prison, social control etc. has mobilized more intellectuals, but that does not make the literary milieu more open to pedophilia. Intellectuals are people who ask questions and ask questions of society. "
A reasoning with which Pierre Verdrager disagrees, believing on the contrary that the literary milieu, by the very way in which it was constituted, is much more "tolerant" with regard to pedophilia than are other milieus to be able to. Because literature is “a world governed by requirements of singularity, originality, and a taste for the non-standard”: for a writer, “it is valued to stand out from the crowd. And to be in pedophilia is to be in the top of the top of the singularity ”. "When [Philippe] Sollers publishes Matzneff, it is because it is a zone of turbulence, because it goes to the frontiers of the law, because we play with the judicial fire", continues Pierre Verdrager.
"The genius is the one who rolls in debauchery"
A concept illustrates this mechanism particularly well, according to the sociologist, that of "epistemological break", invented by Gaston Bachelard. For many intellectuals and intellectuals, thinking correctly requires distance from common sense. To break with the masses, or as Plato already said, the "doxa", the set of prejudices and principles commonly accepted by public opinion. "But breaking with common sense can also lead to major reasoning errors, warns Pierre Verdrager. It's a posture that fits like a glove in pedophile combat ”
Lucie Nizard is a doctoral student, she works on sexual violence in 19th century literature, and she also believes that the figure of the writer was built around this image of a being separated from the crowds, who stands out from the reign mortals. “This posture is set up starting from romanticism. The genius is the one who rolls in debauchery, who must make all the possible experiences, "she explains. "You gave me your mud and I made it gold", said Baudelaire ... It is from this time that literature explores with a certain jubilation the margins, the extraordinary, the sexualities considered deviant, the forbidden… and that it is also fashionable in the industry not to take offense at the prohibited “experiences” of the authors.
As surprising as it may seem, it is undoubtedly also a certain evolution in society, towards more tolerance and acceptance, which one day allowed us to start listening and even to publish pedophiles or even pedophile criminals , as we began to listen to and even publish other marginalized categories one day. And by a dialectical setback, this same evolution today allows us to hear an even more oppressed category: the victims of pedophiles.
Society
Gabriel Matzneff affair: Vanessa Springora denounces the “dysfunctions” of an era
Culture
Gabriel Matzneff affair: Why pedocrime has been minimized in the French literary milieu
Should we speak of “pedophilia”, “pedocrime” or “pedosexuality”? (or any other term?)
All of these words are problematic. “Pedophilia”, with the root “philia”, which means “love”, refers to the idea that a relationship between an adult and a child is a relationship of love, and hides the potential violence, which can wake up years later, even when the violence was not immediately felt.
The term “child crime” includes any form of relationship between an adult and a child in the category of “crime”. However, in the current state of French law, the age difference alone is not enough to define rape, therefore a crime. In the absence of "coercion, surprise or threat", it is necessary to speak of sexual abuse, which constitutes an offense, not a crime. Note that many voices are raised so that sexual intercourse below a certain age is automatically considered rape.
Finally, the term "pedosexual" seems more neutral, but contains for some people the idea that it would be a "sexual practice like any other" ...
- Sexual violence
- Literature
- pedophilia
- Gabriel Matzneff
- Culture