Ivory Coast: NCI case revives debate on rape culture
The new generation of feminists engaged in public debate in Côte d'Ivoire quickly stepped up to the plate after the NCI broadcast, deemed outrageous (illustrative image).
© Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 Georges Hermann Njiale Njiale
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
In Côte d'Ivoire, a live TV show three days ago sparked an uproar on social media.
The host of the private channel NCI had invited a former convict convicted of rape to demonstrate a sexual assault on a plastic mannequin, accompanied by laughter and applause from the host and the audience.
On Wednesday, Yves de Mbella was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence of 12 months and a fine of 3,000 euros.
A victory for the Ivorian associations fighting for the rights of women who have been fighting intensively in recent years against the culture of rape.
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With our correspondent in Abidjan,
François Hume-Ferkatadji
The NCI case has rekindled the debate on the culture of rape in Côte d'Ivoire.
Meganne Boho, president of the Ivorian League for Women's Rights has been fighting for three years within this organization against the trivialization of this sexual crime: “
When we talk about the culture of rape, we think that it is the people who are in the villages, which are not educated… The culture of rape has nothing to do with the level of education.
When a program has been thought out, thought out, to go find an ex-rapist, bring him to the public square, it already shows a lightness of television, because we say to ourselves that it will shock people.
But no, it's outdated.
"
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To read also:
Ivory Coast: scandal after the broadcast on TV of a sequence on the "demonstration" of rape
The new generation of feminists engaged in public debate in Côte d'Ivoire quickly stepped up to the plate after the NCI broadcast, which was deemed outrageous. It was also three years ago that Bénédicte Joan created an organization to fight for women's rights, Stop au Chat Noir, named after the expression used in Côte d'Ivoire to define rape. “
It's used a lot in our conversations,
” she says.
It's very easy to say: "I was Cat Noir". So in fact we say: "I raped someone". It's part, in fact, of the rape culture, it becomes normal to say: "I was Black Cat".
"
Thanks to this in-depth work by these organizations, Anne-Letissia Konan, feminist activist and student, believes that the lines are currently moving in the country: “
A few years ago, it would not have aroused this enthusiasm- the.
So suddenly, I think that changes.
If we disturb it is that somewhere it is changing.
"
Feminist organizations welcome the host's conviction, but are now asking for compensation from the NCI channel, which could go through the programming of a program devoted to sexual violence.
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Ivory Coast
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