‘Opportunistic rape is much more common than you think’

We have been defending women who are victims of rape for more than 20 years. Anne Bouillon, a criminal lawyer and outspoken feminist, described the “fight of her life” in a decisive book: Affair des Femmes. Une Vie à Plaider pour Elles (“Women’s Affairs. A Life Defending Them,” L’Iconoclaste, 296 pages, €21.90). There, based on real-life situations, she describes the different types of rape she has encountered, including “opportunistic” ones.

You create a typology of rape in your book. What does it consist of?

Rape is the most ordinary of crimes. Our courts are full of them. In my practice, I have empirically observed that this crime can have different functions. Predatory rape by men who devise strategies reflects the familiar stereotype of the deviant rapist, but it is far from the most common model.

Reappropriated rape is much more common and follows the same logic as femicide. It is usually carried out through close contact while the victim is in the process of escaping. Opportunistic rape, on the other hand, is committed simply because the opportunity arises; This is a much more common situation than one might think.

Opportunistic rape is mentioned as the explanation for Mazan rapes. Under what circumstances have you observed this in your practice?

A recurring example is the rape of a woman who was sleeping and had had too much to drink. I often come across people in court who may be our neighbors or siblings and who rape us because “he was there and I wanted it”. For example, after a party, the person who collapses on the sofa where a girl fell asleep is a student.

He had not planned any strategy, but in the early hours of the morning, he raped this woman, who was limited by her desire for alcohol and sex, because she offered no resistance. He explained in the criminal court that he “didn’t think it would bother him.” He may not realize it, but he has a distorted perception that the female body is at his disposal as long as he doesn’t get caught.

Where does this perception come from?

The idea of ​​the accessibility of the female body is the fruit of a legacy, a system of domination that continues to structure our society even as it evolves. Thinking that a rapist is a pervert is simple logic that is refuted every day in the courts. Pathologizing or marginalizing the figure of the rapist is an easy way to avoid the introspection needed to dismantle rape.

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