Abstract
This article describes (1) the relationship between the demands made by feminist movements of the 1970s in cases of sexual violence and criticism of the criminal justice system by these movements and other groups, including the prisoners’ movement; and (2) the relationship between this debate and the legal process of reforming the definition and punishment of rape. Two periods are analyzed. In the early 1970s, the common cause of very different movements targeting the law was the priority given to the defense against forms of repression and disciplinary institutions. After 1975, the demands of feminist and prisoner movements diverged and even conflicted. One camp called for an offensive approach to changing the legal punishment of rape whereas the other camp fought against penal reforms imposed by the government and, more specifically, against long sentences.
Highlights
The feminist movements of the 1970s made sexual violence against women one of the central themes of their mobilizations. These struggles resulted in reforms of the legal definition of sexual violence, in order to make it indifferent to the gender of perpetrators and victims, and to put an end to the exclusion of violence committed in the context of marriage
The link between the politicization of sexual violence and increasing efforts to curb it seems obvious, because the activist movements largely based their criticism on the near-total impunity enjoyed by rapists1
The first years after May 1968 were marked by the emergence of second-wave feminist movements (MLF/Mouvement de libération des femmes) and the creation of a large number of organized protests against institutions denounced as repressive, including the army, the household, psychiatric hospitals and—first and foremost—prisons
Summary
The feminist movements of the 1970s made sexual violence against women one of the central themes of their mobilizations. As Aya Gruber points out: “For progressives like feminists, there is always a certain feeling of discomfort when a subordinated group turns to state police power to achieve equality” This feeling of discomfort has been constant, the place it has occupied in the definition of struggles and demands has changed according to the period and, in particular, according to how activist groups have determined which expectations they consider “realistic” The first years after May 1968 were marked by the emergence of second-wave feminist movements (MLF/Mouvement de libération des femmes) and the creation of a large number of organized protests against institutions denounced as repressive, including the army, the household, psychiatric hospitals and—first and foremost—prisons. In the area of prisoner movements, this would be a period of revolt (mainly in 1971–1972 and summer 1974) and of subsequent penitentiary reforms in 1972 and 1975
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