- On the occasion of the 7th International Conference on Sexual Violence, organized by the association Stop Violences Sexuelles (SVS), Monday and Tuesday at UNESCO, in Paris, 20 Minutes focuses on the sometimes very complicated period of pregnancy for the victims.
- Some women who were raped when they were young are in denial and it is during pregnancy, vaginal contact and childbirth that their traumatic past can reappear.
- For caregivers, knowing that their patient has experienced a trauma related to sexuality is valuable information.
According to the Council of Europe, sexual violence affects one in five children. A figure that is cold in the back and which opens the very strong documentary by Eric Lemasson, Primum non nocere .
The director was invited this Tuesday in Paris to the 7th International Conference on Sexual Violence at Unesco, organized by the association Stop Violences Sexuelles (SVS), to present his film * and discuss a subject as hard as taboo: how to take care of women who suffered sexual violence in their youth and for whom pregnancy can be particularly complicated?
Sexually abused girls and boys will have more physical and mental health problems than their peers in the general population.
Pr Isabelle Daigneault 7th international meeting Stop sexual violence. # AssisesSVS #SVS #stopauxviolencessexuelles #unesco pic.twitter.com/I5ZtFE35LC
"Once we know that, we have another reading grid"
“When a woman has suffered sexual violence, it is like a kind of pressure cooker that will explode. When you don't know, you don't understand. Once we know that, we have another reading grid ”, summarizes Nadine Knezovic-Daniel, midwife coordinator of the gynecology-obstetrics center in Strasbourg, present in the documentary. “Originally, the midwives of the Strasbourg CHU wanted an educational film for interns and midwifery students on this issue,” explains Eric Lemasson. In this film, he mixes testimonies of victims and caregivers, but also poignant drawings and happenings showing the tortured body of models to reveal "those fucked up lives".
The objective? "Sensitize health professionals to sexual violence that took place in childhood and which can resurface during pregnancy", specifies Philippe Deruelle, secretary general of the National College of French Gynecologists and Obstetricians (CNGOF) *. Studies show that these victims, when they have not digested this trauma, have a higher risk of complications during pregnancy: hypertension, laborious deliveries… “There are also more denials of pregnancy and premature babies for these cases there, completes Amina Yamgnane, gynecologist-obstetrician at the American Hospital in Paris. It is therefore worth worrying about: we care for mothers and save children. "
Eric Lemasson hopes that this film will serve as “an awareness tool for an essential subject. This opens up breathtaking perspectives for the medical profession and for all of us. Generally, doctors treat symptoms. However, this problematic opens onto the unity of body and mind. It is shown that the deadly energy that people have stored since the age of trauma will sooner or later come out against themselves, sometimes in the form of illness, or against others. "
Why is pregnancy a complicated time?
When you have been raped, it is not only the day of childbirth that can look like an ordeal. The nine months of preparation can also be. First obvious reason, some women must consult a gynecologist, an ultrasound scanner or a midwife, expose their privacy, sometimes for the first time. Indeed, some are not followed by a gynecologist voluntarily. So when each month, they have to lie down with their legs in the air in front of two, three, four health professionals, it can be very badly experienced. "All of a sudden, they can feel affected in their intimate sphere," explains Philippe Deruelle.
But psychological preparation is just as important. Especially in a period of great emotional fragility. “When there have been sexual attacks, the intimacy can be upset. The idea that a being of 3 kg comes out there becomes unmanageable for some ”, adds Amina Yamgnane. “Becoming a mother sometimes brings back traumas that may have been hidden by the unconscious, underlines Philippe Deruelle. For some, giving birth to a girl creates fear that she, in turn, will encounter a predator. "In the documentary, Andréa Bescond, director and actress of the film Les Chatouilles , in which she recounts the rapes suffered during childhood, confides:" When the child arrived, all this violence escalated, I was afraid of make a transfer and be abusive. But this delicate moment can also be a gateway to offer these suffering women therapeutic support.
How to better support?
Speech on sexual violence has been released since #MeToo. But also on the mistreatment of certain obstetricians. "Clearly, we have been feeling for some years an awareness of health professionals and women about violence," says Amina Yamgnane, president of the Commission for the promotion of good treatment in gynecology-obstetrics (Probité), at CNGOF. In the 21st century, as we no longer grapple with the challenge of not dying in childbirth, the challenge for gynecologists is to listen better to women. "
How to take action? A problem has been repeatedly pointed out: the lack of training on this issue of sexual violence. "There is a revolution taking shape in training so that doctors no longer treat a body, but a person," says director Eric Lemasson. For Anne Evrard, co-chair of the Inter-associative Collective around birth (Ciane), "we must train professionals to support without becoming intrusive". No need to have sordid details, she said, better "inquire about her needs, her fears, what reassures her." So, the midwife can explain in advance what gesture she is going to make, ask which position is the least uncomfortable, avoid the vaginal touch…. And if the woman confides, she must know that it will only be transmitted if she wants to. "
Questions about systematic violence?
For Philippe Deruelle, of the CNGOF, a first step would consist in systematizing the question on violence of all kinds. "As with tobacco or alcohol," he says. Personally, I ask, "Have you been subjected to violence? But I don't have to know what exactly happened. We must be attentive, respond to each woman in an appropriate manner, but it is not up to us to care for them. Resilience requires multidisciplinary care. »Provided you have the necessary and accessible resources.
If some large teaching hospitals can offer a psychiatric appointment, sophrology, hypnosis, not all women are housed in the same brand in France. "This is why it would be necessary to create a multidisciplinary space within each region, funded and known, to deal with questions of violence," continues the gynecologist. It is still a very common situation, and general practitioners and gynecologists need to know where to refer these patients. "
* Primum non nocere, documentary screened at Unesco this Tuesday and at the Pari (s) Santé Femmes conference on Wednesday 29 January. But also available on You Tube and Vimeo.
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