French sexual abuse victims denounce police mistreatment
ABC News
Thousands of French women have denounced in an online campaign the response of police officers victim-blaming them or mishandling their complaints as they were reporting sexual abuse
PARIS -- One rape victim was asked by Paris police what she wore that day, and why she didn’t struggle more. Another woman was forced to fondle herself to demonstrate a sexual assault to a skeptical police officer.
They are among thousands of French women who have denounced in a new online campaign the shocking response of police officers victim-blaming them or mishandling their complaints as they reported sexual abuse.
The hashtag #DoublePeine (#DoubleSentencing) was launched last month by Anna Toumazoff after she learned that a 19-year-old woman who filed a rape complaint in the southern city of Montpellier was asked by police in graphic terms whether she experienced pleasure during the assault.
The hashtag quickly went viral, with women describing similar experiences in Montpellier and other police stations across France. French women’s rights group NousToutes counted at least 30,000 accounts of mistreatment in tweets and other messages sent on social media and on a specific website.
