Europe 1 with AFP 4:59 p.m., June 24, 2022, modified at 5:00 p.m., June 24, 2022

After the recent accusations of rape which targeted gynecologists, including the current Secretary of State Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, the practices of gynecology are called into question.

For Bertrand de Rochambeau, president of the main union of gynecologists, the profession is "caught up" by society's growing demand for consent.

Behind the recent accusations of rape targeting eminent gynecologists, including Secretary of State Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, it is the whole profession which considers itself "caught up by society" and the growing demand for consent and benevolence expressed by women.

Feet in stirrups, a patient "tense and blocked" faces a gynecologist who insists on auscultating her then throws "you're going to have to open".

A scene experienced "at least as a sexual assault" by this young woman, who "hesitates" to file a complaint, more than five years later.

A testimony among others targeting Dr. Zacharopoulou, a recognized specialist in endometriosis and the subject of an investigation after two complaints for rape and a third for "violence" filed in recent weeks.

Charges that the person concerned "forcefully" denied on Friday, saying in a press release that she had "never imposed the slightest examination on any of (her) patients without their consent".

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His case echoes that of Professor Emile Daraï, deposed but still serving head of the Tenon hospital (AP-HP), targeted by around twenty complaints since September.

First under investigation for "rape", he is now the subject of a judicial investigation opened in January for "violence".

Sign of the difficulty in qualifying facts that associate an act of penetration and a presumed agreement between doctor and patient.

"A woman who makes an appointment, who has said 'would you like a check-up?', who says yes, who gets into the gynecological position (...), how can gynecologists prove that they have had consent?” Asked Professor Israel Nisand on RTL on Friday.

For the former president of the National College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (CNGOF), "this use of the word rape worries the whole profession, because rape implies sexual intentionality".

The CNGOF also asks in a press release "that acts of a sexual nature and medical examinations be clearly distinguished".

He wants to "open a real discussion on this subject" with magistrates, lawyers and patient associations.

A profession "caught up by society"

But the evil is deeper.

For several years, testimonies denouncing "obstetric violence" or "gynecological violence" have multiplied.

"Society's outlook is changing on the way we should do our job", notes Bertrand de Rochambeau, president of the main trade union in the profession (Syngof).

"Before, when a woman came to see us, we assumed that she accepted penetration a priori. The situation has changed, society is catching up with us", he admits, aware that for some of his colleagues, "taking into account what patients say" is a kind of "cultural revolution".

In the wake of the Daraï affair, the learned societies of gynecology have enacted a "consultation charter", which recalls in particular that "the oral agreement of the woman is obtained before any clinical examination" and that the act "must be able to be interrupted as soon as the patient expresses the will".

"It's common knowledge, we can't ignore it," explains Dr. de Rochambeau.

But "it takes time" for practices to evolve.

“We have too many testimonies”

An inertia that does not accept Sonia Bisch, founder of the collective "Stop obstetrical and gynecological violence", who "would like the government to act against this violence".

Because "without modifying the training of doctors, without taking into account the words of patients, medical practices do not change".

"Things have to move, we have too many testimonials", she adds, saying she receives 200 a month "from all over the place", proof according to her that "bad practices are generalized", on the contrary of "benevolence and good treatment" demanded.

However, she judges that thanks to "activist work", the population becomes "aware that this is not normal".

From now on, "doctors find themselves in front of patients who know their rights and can no longer so easily impose everything on them".