After DSK Affair, Feminists Issue New Political Demands
"'What we reacted to was not what happened - or didn’t happen -
in New York. The U.S. justice system will decide that. … Why did it take the
DSK affair for the political class and the press to ‘discover’ that 75,000
women are raped in France every year? That professional inequality remains the
rule? That parity is a mirage?'"
-- Caroline
de Haas, co-founder of Dare to Be Feminist!
Jack Lang, Socialist Party lawmaker, former culture minister and friend of Dominique-Strauss Kahn was pilloried for minimizing the charges against DSK.
EVRY: An unexpected success?
A success, at any rate. “Thanks, DSK!” jokes an experienced activist,
well-versed in political analysis and delighted at the large turnout. From the
beginning of the “Summer conference of Feminist Movements” on Saturday, July 2,
at the University of Evry (Essonne), the amphitheater is filled to bursting, as
would later be the thirty discussion rooms organized over the weekend; the one
entitled “Queers & Gender Fucker: What is the Path for Feminism?” was a
huge hit, with people having to be turned away at the door.
Yet
certainly, without the furious energy of the Osez le Féminisme! (Dare to
Be Feminist!) Association that initiated the conference - and inspired a
coalition of forty groups, including the National Federation of Women’s
Solidarity and Family Planning - this conference would have never taken place.
According to organizers, a total of 600 activists - a handful of them male - made
the journey, a third of them from the Paris suburbs. But it's not at all
certain that without the upheaval caused by the DSK affair, there would have
been quite as many people.
In
no way is this to make a big deal about this, and far less a triumph. The
revelations printed
by The New York Times, which undermine the credibility of the
accuser, followed by the parole of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, have obliged feminists, if
not to keep a low profile, then at least to observe caution when expressing
themselves, to the point of observing a form of "self-censorship," in
the words of one participant at the conference who spoke off the record. At a
workshop entitled: “Rape: The Shame Must Be Shifted,” the former IMF chief's
name was never spoken.
THE DSK AFFAIR 'AWOKE OUR CONSCIENCES'
One
might laugh at this, when recalling the gaffe of [French Socialist MP] Jack Lang,
whose ham-handed “it’s not like he killed a man” sped around the planet [see video below]. To be honest, if one speaks so little of the drama in New York, it's
because the shock wave caused by the DSK affair is almost past.
“In
a sense, the case has been beneficial. It has awakened the conscience: people are
now questioning the reality of the situation of women and the relationship of
power and sexuality,” judges the head of the French
Movement for Family Planning, Carine Favier, who nevertheless cautioned against
the “freedom-killing Puritan discourse” that the DSK affair has inspired.
“In
France,” she continued, “as soon as you start talking about sexuality, as soon
as you start to mix politics and private life, you hit a roadblock.” She readily
admits that this is a complex issue and offers as an example women who press
charges for domestic violence: “They do so because there is already a background
of assault, insults and humiliation. But they rarely press charges for rape. They
don’t immediately perceive it like that, since as everyone knows, sex without desire
is just part of marriage,” says the chairwoman of Family Planning. For her, the
only question is, “the power that one person exercises over another. For one
person to consider someone else just an object is simply unacceptable.”
'WHAT ENRAGED US WERE THE SEXIST JOKES'
On
May 22 in Paris, this same caution could be found among the activists of Dare
to Be Feminist!, who improvised a rally just after the allegations, against
sexism, and published, along with other associations, a pamphlet denouncing the
misogynistic remarks of certain politicians.
“If
there was no rape, well, that’s good news!” exclaims Caroline de Haas,
co-founder and former spokesperson for Dare to Be Feminist!. “What we reacted
to was not what happened - or didn’t happen - in New York. The American justice
system will decide that. What enraged us were the sexist jokes that followed.
Contrary to what you may have read, feminists are not looking to point fingers.
What we want is for justice to be done,” she insists.
Does
it change anything if the maid lied? “If journalists come to us today to talk
about DSK - and if they think that this dramatic turn of events has changed our
way of seeing things, they’re wrong!” says de Haas in mock anger.
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“Why
did all this have to happen before we were invited to appear on television?”
she continues. “We’ve existed for two years. The French Movement for Family
Planning has been here for decades. We’re not taking advantage of any trends.
Why did it take the DSK affair for the political class and the press to
‘discover’ that 75,000 women are raped in France every year? That professional
inequality remains the rule? That parity is a mirage?”
These
are the same arguments that will be thrown out during the closing speeches
early Sunday afternoon. A collective text, which the participating associations
have signed, present nine priority demands that the feminist movement intends
to submit to presidential candidates between now and the spring of 2012.
Entitled,
Equality Now!, the text calls for, notably, the creation of a ministry
for women’s rights and for effective implementation of the parity law in regard
to political decisions “starting in the legislative elections of 2012,” and recognition,
including financial, of the “essential” work conducted by feminist groups.
