Our Misogynist Culture

Dear Readers, We should be loathe to cast aspersions on other cultures.  Western Civilization tends to view itself as “pure.”  In doing so, we ignore our historical cruelty.  

In the context of racial transgressions, we actively do so with attacks on higher-level legal educational discussions about “Critical Race Theory.”  What is true of race, applies to our cultural misogyny.  If we forget our past, we create a cultural blind spot.  Something which is “on the ballot” in this year’s election.

Progress by women is measured in decades not centuries.  The right to vote in this country was only secured 150-odd years ago.  Progenitor inheritance of property, first starting to pass automatically to wives (instead of male descendants), is a fairly recent development.  Even into the 1950s and 1960s, divorce was devastating to women, unable to benefit from a spouse’s credit history, social security, or theories of alimony and equitable division of marital property.  

Rosie the Riveter may have been instrumental in winning World War II, by keeping our defense industry humming.  Our young men bravely sacrificed life or limb to save our forebearers, but no one should disregard what was done on the home front.  After the war, we returned to a rhythm of men being the primary breadwinners and women subjugated as “barefoot and pregnant.”  Even today, a wage-gender gap is the product of this Neanderthalic mindset.  The Equal Rights Amendment died a natural death in 1979.

Rape, a crime of dominance, defines misogyny as an excellent measuring stick of a culture’s tolerance for it.  Western Civilization is chock full of myths glorifying Rape.  Ancient Greece heavily influenced our culture, down to much of the Christian Bible being written in Ancient Greek. 

The Greek God Zeus was a cad, spreading his “seed” amongst humans wherever and whenever he wanted – until jealous Hera found out and exacted revenge on innocent women.  In other words, the principal female God-head exacted punishment on survivors of Rape.  The “blame the victim” mentality echoes in the movie “The Accused” from 1988, or even the Supreme Court judicial nomination hearings for Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh. 

Rape has been an important military tactic through the centuries to breed fear and subjugate the losing “tribe.”  It brings humiliation to a people; rape the women, enslave the children.  The modern world is no stranger to this reptilian brutal primal instinct.  Ethnic cleansing encompasses rape.  We saw this in Bosnia-Serbia in the 1990s, and, today, Rwanda, Sudan, and Ukraine follow the same misogynic pattern.  

The “Me Too” movement shook Hollywood in the United States.  At ground zero, Harvey Weinstein has yet to see the light of day (although, he is being retried in New York) and Bill Cosby has yet to retrieve his dignity disgraced at 88 years of age.

France is having its “Me Too” movement in the Avignon rape trial of Dominque Pelicot and 50 other men for drugging and raping his 72-year-old wife, Gisele Pelicot.  Mr. Pelicot is accused of online “shipping” to random men (aged 26-74) from all walks of life and offering up his wife for sex.  Then, drugging her so they could have their way with her. Sick man.

The cry of “I am Gisele” has spread from Southwestern France throughout the country.  Under French law,  Ms. Pelicot could have elected an “anonymous” trial to avoid the media glare.  She did not, bravely striding the public stage as an icon for women’s rights.

A government report found sexual assaults in France to have increased 33% in 2021, almost double of 2017.  While women were overwhelmingly the victims of sexual assault (86%), men were even more frequently the perpetrators (96%).  Yet, the prosecution rate for sexual assaults was only 10% of reports, and the conviction rate was even more minuscule (5%).  No wonder women are reluctant to step forward.

French women are rising up in protest of what happened to Gisele Pelicot.  They are demanding change and justice; organizations are springing up demanding the French legal system squeeze itself out of a “rape culture.”  French directors and producers are being held accountable, as is the famous French male actor Gerard Depardieu. Powerful men who have supported Dominque Pelicot and Mr. Depardieu are being accused of cowardice or worse. 

France may be experiencing the same cultural revolution we went through (and still are) sparked by revulsion of Harvey Weinstein.  The deeper lesson, though, is that misogyny lurks just below our facade of modernity.  Judge not, lest you be judged.

Warner Robins attorney Jim Rockefeller is the former Chief Assistant District Attorney for Houston County, and a former Assistant State Attorney in Miami.  Owner of Rockefeller Law Center, Jim has been in private practice since 2000.  E-mail your comments or confidential legal questions to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com.