Incest: the Civil Society sounds the alarm on the long-term consequences, the government promises to act

Europe 1 with AFP 9:45 a.m., September 21, 2022

The government announced Wednesday measures to fight against sexual violence against minors, inspired by the Incest Commission which published the same day an analysis of their traumatic consequences.

In particular, he announced the "filing in Parliament of a legislative amendment allowing the withdrawal in principle of the exercise of parental authority in the event of a conviction of a parent for incestuous sexual violence on his child".

This “withdrawal in principle” would be pronounced “unless otherwise stated by the trial court by special motivation”, indicates the Secretary of State for Children in a press release.

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160,000 underage victims each year

The government will also launch in early 2023 "a major national campaign on sexual violence against children", a request from the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence against Children (Ciivise) while the last dates from 2002. It intends to create an "advice and support unit for professionals who receive revelations of sexual violence from children".

On the judicial level, the government also wants to strengthen "support for the child" throughout the criminal process "by victim support associations and with the intervention of an ad hoc administrator, in the event of failure. parental".

These measures are inspired by the recommendations of the Ciivise, launched in January 2021 to guide public policies to combat sexual violence against minors.

La Ciivise, which estimates the number of minor victims each year at 160,000, publishes a report on Wednesday on the call for testimonies it launched a year ago.

Absence of libido, refusal of maternity, addictions, anorexia... the victims of sexual violence in childhood suffer the traumatic consequences in adulthood, alerts this Commission which received 16,414 testimonies in one year. 

"What is obvious when reading the emails received is the expression of suffering, extreme and lasting suffering. It is not thinking about something painful that happened a long time ago, it is to experience it today", explains to AFP judge Edouard Durand, co-president of the Ciivise.

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“I took life at eight years old”

“I took life at eight years old”: those who testify “almost always” evoke consequences “on their intimate life in adulthood, their couple, their life as a parent, their sexuality”, notes the report.

Four out of ten women report pain, mainly vaginismus.

Nearly one in three men suffer from erectile dysfunction.

Three out of ten victims mention an absence or drop in libido or an absence of sexual life.

"My sexuality has been a long desert crossing. I suffered from vaginismus for about twenty years," said a woman quoted in the report.

Many testimonies also evoke a refusal of motherhood and the fear of reproducing the aggressions on their own child.

This violence suffered as a child also has an impact on adult health: the vast majority have "developed risky behavior".

Eating disorders, addictions, aggressiveness, suicide attempts are most often reported.

One in two women thus describes an eating disorder (anorexia, bulimia, etc.).

Four out of ten men have an addiction problem (alcoholism, drugs).

"I take alcohol or cannabis to numb myself, not for a recreational, euphoric high. It's just so I can fall into a dreamless sleep, since dreams are basically nightmares," says another.

Among the recommendations that it calls on the public authorities to implement "urgently", as budget discussions approach, the Ciivise also asks to guarantee and reimburse victims for specialized care in psychotrauma, currently not easily accessible and expensive. .

"I think I spent a car or two on my psych reconstruction," says one account.

She claims more resources for the judicial police services specializing in cyber-pedocrime, while "grooming" (approaching a child on the internet to sexually assault him) has jumped.

As an echo of the testimonies of the Ciivise, the actress Corinne Masiero evoked Monday on France Inter the consequences of the incest that she suffered: "There are two words that I hate, it's love and family. Voluntarily , I didn't want to have a kid because, at some point, the chain, you have to break it".

She will testify, with others, in the documentary "Incest, say it and hear it", broadcast on the 26th on France 3. Special Envoy will also deal with incest in its Thursday edition.