France’s reputation is certainly dented by Pelicot

France has long been admired – notably in the English-speaking world – as a society which has a much more “sophisticated”, even “civilised’ approach to love and sex. I once very much bought into these legends myself – especially after reading, as a teenager,  the novels and biographies of Nancy Mitford.

Why, the French accepted “l’amour” and “seduction”, as something natural and easy. They weren’t bound by the hideously Puritanical inhibitions of the “Anglo-Saxon” world. Mistresses were normal; adultery was quite healthy, so long as it didn’t upset property and inheritance.

Matrimony

An older Frenchwoman told me when I was an impressionable 19-year-old; “The chains of matrimony are so onerous it takes three to carry them!” Her tone was amused and light-hearted.

At the popular level, “Gay Paree” was almost marketed as a location for liberty and licence: the Folies Bergères, with their naked dancers, were world famous. When the occupying German army got to Paris in 1940, the first treat for officers was the freedom of the brothels.

Censored

Every erotic book censored elsewhere was available in Paris. Oh-là-là, was understood in every tongue.

But that reputation for liberty and licence has taken a knock with the terrible disclosures of the Pelicot case at the end of 2024, in which it emerged that Frenchman Dominique Pelicot had arranged for more than fifty men – 72 in all – to rape his drugged wife, while he filmed the proceedings. Gisèle Pelicot was raped 92 times over a period of nine years.

But did that other French tradition, so long admired, of portraying sexual relations as a libidinous freedom, play into this appalling case?”

What was so extraordinary about these crimes is that the guilty men seemed to think it was all just a normal part of a “swinging” lifestyle; it was part of a pattern of sex-games they considered just a bit of fun.

Of course, there are plenty of people in France with a strong moral compass, and a robust grasp of what is right and wrong. But did that other French tradition, so long admired, of portraying sexual relations as a libidinous freedom, play into this appalling case?

Some commentators have blamed “machismo” and misogyny for the rapes: but machismo is present in societies like Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece, and the Pelicot case didn’t occur in those other Med countries. It happened in France, which has so long been celebrated for traditions of sexual liberation.

It’s been a horrible case to follow, and it must be dreadful for the three Pelicot children to have to live with.

But the moral boundaries around sexual conduct are there for a reason: because, so often, great wrongs follow when they are broken.