French writer accused of pedophilia - publisher cancels the entire publication

For years, the award-winning male author has written and spoken publicly about his sexual attraction to minors.

In the beginning of January this year, the book Le consentement (Consent, translated into Swedish) was released by Vanessa Springora, with whom the author began a sexual relationship with when Springora was 14 years old.

The author is the latest in a series of cultural personalities that have come into focus in the wake of the metoo movement in France. In the days it was clear that the distinguished publisher Gallimard is withdrawing the author's publication.

"The suffering that Vanessa Springora expresses in the book justifies exceptional action," the publisher writes in a press release.

The Paris Prosecutor's Office has also acted and, on its own initiative, opened a preliminary investigation against the author. In particular, the investigation will focus on identifying if there are others who also feel that they have been exploited.

In the book, Vanessa Springora writes about how the author seduced her sexually and about how the relationship led to her suffering from mental illness and depression. She also describes the confusion that arose when she discovered that the author had written about his relationship with countless other girls and boys, including those he met on sex trips in Southeast Asia, writes The New York Times.

"I hope to be able to contribute to the debate about control and consent," Vanessa Springora told L'Obs magazine.

The author has never been convicted of abuse and refuses to have used anyone. He writes to the Le Parisien newspaper that media reporting on the book has been "unfair and exaggerated" and further describes "the beauty of the love we shared, Vanessa and I".

And the book Le Consent has led to great debate about the view of sex with children in France.

Under French law, it is illegal for an adult to have sex with a child under 15, but it is not automatically classified as rape. The law does not, as in many other countries, state that an underage person is automatically unable to give his consent, writes The New York Times.

Sprora's story sheds light on a controversial stance in the view of sexual relations between children and adults that sprang from France's 68 movement and the struggle for sexual liberation. Under the slogan "It is forbidden to prohibit", some argued that this release should not only apply to adults. Children would also be allowed to live out their sexuality, even in adult relationships. This attitude also gained some ground in the public.

In the light of Springora's book and the meto-wave that has regained power in France, this attitude has once again become the subject of debate and criticism.