While the jogger was still missing, Jacques Morel, a general of the gendarmerie, made controversial comments on BFMTV.
“We will take this opportunity to remind young girls and young women that it becomes a little reckless to run alone in the forest.” While questioned by Pascale de La Tour du Pin on the devices to be put in place by the gendarmerie in the event of a disappearance, the general of the gendarmerie, Jacques Morel, made controversial remarks. Indeed, in the show Lunch info on BFMTV on Monday, November 9, the guests were asked to react to the disappearance of a 17-year-old teenager in Mayenne. At the time of the show, the girl had not yet been found, and the gendarme wished to address advice to women.
“It becomes imprudent to run alone in the forest, began Jacques Morel, even if these are routes that we know, people spot you if you pass there several times a week, and that can give the idea to a crazy man to wait for you on your route.“And if, since then, the young girl has been found safe and sound and doubts persist about what happened to her, the gendarme’s advice to women, potential victims, goes badly.
From simple reminder to “victim blaming”
“You can see that in all these stories, it is never men who are attacked.” In his reminder, the gendarme insisted on the fact that the majority of women were victims and that they therefore had to avoid going out for a run alone. However, this advice aimed at potential victims is shocking. These remarks are indeed akin to “victim blaming”, this concept of social psychology designates the process which aims to blame a victim, in particular those of assault or sexual violence. Naivety, risky driving, questioning of behavior or even of intoxication, attention is focused on the behavior of the victim rather than that of the culprit.
A “Reversal of guilt” according to Marie, an activist from the Nous tous 53 collective. West France, she illustrated the situation: “This is for example to say: a woman should not wear short skirts, should not drink in the evening, otherwise she will be attacked.” While this type of reaction would not apply in other cases, “You wouldn’t imagine saying to someone who has just been robbed: ‘well yes, you shouldn’t go on vacation too!’” she added. In addition, according to a 2016 report, each year, 94,000 women are victims of sexual violence and in 91% of cases, they know the perpetrator. “Between 2007 and 2017, there were seven murders and assassinations of joggers by an unknown person, wrote feminist essayist Valérie Rey-Robert on Twitter, on average over the same period there is a woman killed every three days by her (ex) spouse. ”
Article written in collaboration with 6medias