The introduction of the hashtag #Metoogarçons, triggered by the speech of the French actor Aurélien Wiik, triggered several hundred statements on social networks from men who had been victims of sexual violence and whose stories had hardly been heard for a long time.
On February 22, on the eve of a César ceremony marked by an unprecedented wave of allegations of sexual violence, launched in particular by the actress Judith Godrèche, the 43-year-old actor stated that he had been “abused” since his age “ having been 11 to 15. by his agent and after filing a complaint at 16 because his attacker “did it to others.”
His message attracts several hundred testimonials on the social network X, which quickly go beyond the boundaries of the seventh art.
French MP Andy Kerbrat immediately announced that he had been “abused”. [s]killed three to four years ago by a predator who has since died without any possibility of justice.”
“People believe you and love you [ce qui a été mon cas grâce à mes parents]. You will achieve great things, so keep expressing yourself. If you can, go to court. We don’t heal, but we repair ourselves. Together,” adds the 33-year-old MP.
“Brakes in society”
French journalist and writer Adrien Borne, 42, who publicly reported in 2016 that he was the victim of a child molester, admits he felt “very alone” at the time and suggests he “surfaced with a mixture of fear and sees need.” #metooboys.”
Far from being a new issue, the issue of men affected by sexual violence has long been overshadowed by the problem of women, who make up an overwhelming proportion of victims. According to the French Ministry of the Interior, 87% of victims of sexual violence in 2022 were women. 97% of the suspects were men.
Beyond the statistical reality, the question has long been taboo, believes Laurent Boyet, president of the Les Papillons association, who testified in 2017 that he was raped by his six-year-old brother.
“There are obstacles in society, especially the idea that a man doesn't cry, he is strong, that a man cannot be a victim,” he states.
“Very often we say to male victims: 'This isn't possible because you're a man, why didn't you defend yourself?' That’s what I was told,” adds Arnaud Gallais, president of another association of victims of sexual violence and a victim himself.
Faced with “loneliness”
For a long time, vigilance against child victims of sexual violence was focused on girls rather than boys, confirms Sébastien Chauvin, a sociologist specializing in gender issues. “Boys were freer and the possibility of sexual violence was completely inaudible for a long time,” he says.
Meeting with AFP at the end of December, Belgian director Joachim Lafosse assessed that the women who had broken the silence in the cinema industry in recent years had done so “thanks to sisterhood, community, their solidarity”.
“On the other hand, when you talk about what happened as a man, the words come with a loneliness. Patriarchy does not invite the exchange of words between men, you have to be strong,” he stressed.
In 2021, the #Metooincest wave gave many men who were victims of pedophilia in childhood the opportunity to testify. This movement was followed by #MetooGay, which, however, rather raises “the question of consent in the gay world, including between adults” and, according to the sociologist, obscures the power relationships in the world of work or in family circles.
And now ? For Laurent Boyet, “it is no longer about freedom of expression, but about whether society finally hears us”.