8 steps to trivialize sexual assault

Languages ​​are loosening and omerta is now ending in the world of sports journalism. After the documentary has been broadcast I’m not a bitch directed by journalist Marie Portolano and broadcast on Canal + this Sunday, March 21, 2021, Pierre Ménès is at the center of the turmoil. According to the site Days, Marie Portolano had to cut parts of her documentary including Pierre Ménès, at the request of Canal +. A passage where she evokes with him the time he sexually assaulted her on a show set, in 2018, does not appear. After these revelations, some TV archives resurfaced on social networks. We see Pierre Ménès sexually assault Francesca Antoniotti or Isabelle Moreaud in front of hilarious spectators.

This Monday, March 22, 2021, Pierre Ménès was invited on the set of the show Do not touch My TV, on C8. This completely lunar platform given to the sports journalist says a lot about how sexual assault is trivialized. We take a look back at eight steps in this sequence that aim to minimize, and therefore perpetuate, sexist and sexual assault.

To say that the facts took place a long time ago

During his appearance on the show TPMP, Pierre Ménès returned to one of the cut sequences from the documentary I am not a slut by Marie Portolano. He comes back to the fact that he lifted the journalist’s skirt during a TV show and in front of the spectators. But the case dates back ten years and the sports consultant claims not to remember it at all … If facts have taken place in the distant past, however, it is important to take into account the accusations of ‘a victim of sexual violence and, above all, to believe her, rather than pretending to have a faulty memory. Indeed, whether it took place yesterday or ten years ago, an assault remains an assault.

Claim “that we can’t say anything more”

Pierre Ménès’ defense speech is mainly based on the fact that, according to him, “we can’t say anything more” today. In addition, he blames Marie Portolano, because she did not say anything to him at the time of the facts. He thinks she should have spoken to him earlier. We blame the victim, we question his testimony … However, if a victim of sexual violence is silent at the time of the facts, it is because of several factors: amazement, shame, guilt or, fear of losing your job when assaults take place in the workplace …

Being defended by your friends

If Pierre Ménès is now pinned down, it is clear that he is not the only one to be guilty of minimizing the facts: the chroniclers present on the set of TPMP this Monday, March 22, 2021, close to the sports journalist, are in the game. Gilles Verdez, for example, returned to his friendship with him. According to the chronicler, we are made to schoolboy and spontaneous behaviors, which reflect the naturalness of Pierre Ménès. “He is as he is with everyone. (…) He is someone I have known for 20 years”, he exclaims. Guillaume Genton goes even further, asserting “Pierre Ménès has a lot of courage to have been in this streak and to be on the TPMP set tonight.” You said boys club ?

Speaking for the victims

Worse still, Guillaume Genton minimized the sexual assaults of Pierre Ménès which took place in the past on the television sets. Francesca Antoniotti, Isabelle Moreaud, Marie Portolano … According to him, it is not about rape and therefore, it is not so serious. “Sorry, but what he is being criticized for tonight is not rape. Go tell people who have been raped that this is rape …”, he believes. Here, Guillaume Genton makes the terrible mistake of speaking for the victims of sexual violence and rape, who have yet asked him for anything.

To see also: Pierre Ménès accused of sexual violence, shocking testimonies multiply

To say that “it was for fun”

The show Do not touch My TV broadcast the famous sequence of the documentary I am not a slut cut during editing by Canal +. During this discussion between Marie Portolano and Pierre Ménès, the latter defends himself: “I’ve always been like that, I room. It’s also how you create an atmosphere, that you integrate people. You always defended yourself very well, besides you didn’t need it because that I wasn’t attacking you. (…) If I can’t room a girl anymore, because she’s a girl, it’s unbearable “, He explains, not failing to make a remark about the lack of cleavage of his interlocutor during the interview. “If I didn’t put on a cleavage, it’s because I’m not here for that”, she replies. As a reminder, sexually assaulting a woman is not “to room.” If Pierre Ménès also explains that at the time, it made people laugh, it is important to remember that being hilarious in the face of a sexual assault is not normal.

To say that there are more important things

According to Pierre Ménès, there are facts that are more important and much more worrying than a sexual assault … TPMP, he even returned to the other reports of the show before he intervened on the set in his turn: “There are more important subjects. At the national level, it’s a detail. You were talking about the carnival in Marseille earlier, these are more important things.” If a sexual assault can be destructive and traumatic, Pierre Ménès therefore believes that it is “a detail.” Once again, we do not take into account the consequences of such acts on a victim of sexual assault, nor even their systemic dimension.

Claiming the support of your business

Impunity is very present in cases of sexual assault and / or rape, especially in business. This is the case in the Pierre Ménès affair since the journalist was never worried. In Do not touch My TV, he even underlined the support of Canal + in this affair : “I have always had the support of my channel. When I had the director of the antennas this morning, he told me that it would be good if I went to Hanouna’s, I reserved my answer. I did not know not.” This testimony sheds light on the culture of rape still tenacious in our society: here, we support the aggressor who is neither sanctioned nor worried about his career, and who can use this argument to explain that he is not really guilty.

Go up to the stand

The presence of Pierre Ménès in the show TPMP proves the importance that our society gives to the words of aggressors, whether they are suspected or proven. At the beginning of March 2021, same principle in the show Daily, on TMC. Presenter Yann Barthes welcomed Patrick Poivre d’Avor, accused of rape, sexual assault and inappropriate behavior by several women. Today, we continue to weaken the victims by giving a voice to those who only minimize or deny. The media have an essential role to play, by ceasing to feed this system with shots of this type.