Is the #MeToo movement winning over the pornography industry in France?

It is a sprawling investigation which lasted more than a year and made it possible to collect the testimonies of 53 victims of abuse during filming of porn movies in France.

To the police, these women described the culture of rape that reigns on the sets, drugs and forced and humiliating sexual practices.

In all, 30 actresses have officially filed a complaint.

Four porn actors, one of whom is also a cameraman, were indicted at the end of October for rape, a first in France.

Three of them are in pre-trial detention.

The last one was placed under judicial supervision.

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"Nobody believed these women, neither the police, nor their male colleagues", laments the lawyer Marjolaine Vignola, who represents two victims, during an interview with France 24. "These actresses often have employment contracts whose There is a question of legality. Sometimes they are even legally invalid. But in the porn industry, as long as there is a contract, no one is going to look to see if everything is in order. "

Bedroom or X movie, "the law is the same" 

The investigation, which began in March 2020, focused in particular on the French Bukkake site and its creator, Pascal Op, suspected of aggravated pimping and human trafficking.

The actor and director is known in the industry for his violent productions in the 'gonzo' style, low budget films, without dialogue or script.

He is currently in custody with another producer, Mat Hadix.

According to the newspaper Le Parisien, the indicted actors would have cracked by reviewing some of these videos.

Asked by the judge to describe a sequence during which he violently forces an actress to give him a blowjob, one of them admitted the facts: "In this case, I am guilty, I have no excuse . From what you explained to me, it is rape, because the girl's consent is not… ", he admitted before breaking down in tears.

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"It is a good thing that the actors are prosecuted", assures Marjolaine Vignola.

"If a woman cries and screams while being forced to have anal sex, in the bedroom or on the set of a pornographic movie, the law is the same. Consent must be renewed during sex. . "

"A vast network of pimping"

In a statement, the Mouvement du Nid, an association that fights against prostitution and helps sex workers.

In a statement, the association said that "it is the entire organization of a 'pornocriminal' industry that is exposed: a vast network of pimping and trafficking in human beings, subjecting women to prostitution, rape and acts of torture ".

"This is a very important matter," said Sandrine Goldschmidt, spokesperson for Mouvement du Nid, to France 24.

"It shows that impunity can be called into question and that nothing is decided in advance."

At the same time, another investigation was opened against the Jacquie et Michel site in July 2020. These investigations were launched after the reporting of a video by Dare feminism, Les Effronté-es and the Mouvement du Nid.

These three feminist associations relied on testimonies collected by the Konbini media which revealed sexual abuse suffered by two actresses during filming for the platform.

In response to these accusations, in November 2020, Jacquie et Michel and the French porn giant Marc Dorcel announced the launch of a code of ethics.

The recommendations were released in April after several months of consultations with members of the porn industry. 

But this charter is strongly criticized by feminist organizations who qualify it as "bogus".

Journalist Robin D'Angelo, who for a year infiltrated the world of amateur porn for the purposes of an investigation, estimated in an interview with France Inter that "these charters are just publicity, enough opportunistic, not to say cynical ".

According to lawyer Marjolaine Vignola, the publication of a charter "cannot be a response to accusations of procuring, gang rape and human trafficking. A charter is not capable of changing an entire system. It is simply an attempt to redeem oneself.

The French pornographic industry is far from being the only one concerned by this liberation of actresses' words.

In the United States, actor Ron Jeremy was indicted in August for 30 rapes and sexual assaults.

He is currently in prison awaiting trial.

Article translated from English by Grégoire Sauvage.

The original can be found here.

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