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The porn industry in the defendants’ dock

[Translated from Swedisch article]

Alyssa Ahrabare from the French organisation Osez le féminisme explains how they managed to prosecute traffickers and pornographers in a historic French court case.

Next year in Paris, the owner of a porn site will be prosecuted. It is a historic case involving 40 victims and three organisations as civil parties (Osez le féminisme, Mouvement du Nid and Les Effronté-es). It is a victory for the women’s movement, and especially for us in the Osez le féminisme group, which has pursued the issue and is a civil party to the case. Osez le féminisme (“Dare to be feminist”) is an organisation that provides holistic support to over 40 victims in both cases, including legal assistance, psychological trauma therapy, and social support, with a team of 30 lawyers, two specialist psychologists and a social worker.

The prosecution covers a range of charges: rape, prostitution and human trafficking.1 The subject of the prosecution is the French website ‘French Bukkake’, owned by Pascal Ollitrault (known as Pascal OP), which posts extremely violent pornographic videos. According to a report by the Haut Conseil à l’égalité entre les femmes et les hommes (Equality Council), these cases are the norm rather than the exception, and the pornography industry benefits from widespread impunity to minimise “serious violations of human dignity”.2

The preliminary investigation was launched in 2020, and investigators soon discovered that many complaints had been filed across France for several years, but had not been followed up. In the course of their work, the investigators uncovered a system of sexual exploitation for the purpose of rape, and a judicial investigation was opened for ‘gang rape’, ‘aggravated trafficking in human beings’, ‘aggravated pimping’, ‘money laundering’, ‘concealed labour’ and ‘distribution of recordings of images relating to the execution of a deliberate attack on the integrity of a person’.

The survey revealed the grim reality of ‘Bukkake’ films. Paying subscribers were invited to participate in gang rapes based on a particularly dehumanising scenario: many men penetrated a woman (sometimes over 80 times in less than two hours) before collectively ejaculating on the victim, who was displayed on a pallet as a commodity. 500 men were identified in the investigation. Ordinary men, porn consumers who were invited to rape and torture women on camera. They have not yet been prosecuted.

The French Council for Gender Equality published a report this year on the criminality of the pornography industry, including the testimonies of victims.3

The investigation related to the “French Bukkake” case has revealed a well-organised strategy to capture victims. A man named Julien D. targeted women on social networks. He approached them under a fake female profile called “Axelle Vercoutre” and, using the myth of “happy and lucrative prostitution”, convinced them to try becoming “luxury escorts”. He then posed as a buyer, met the women and raped them. Raping victims in order to exert control over them is a common practice used by pimps and traffickers.

After the rapes, Julien D. encouraged the women to try being in pornographic films that would only be shown to limited audiences abroad. They were to go to a specified address where several days of horror ensued. The producer, Pascal OP, at first seemed nice, with the intention of forcing their consent and recording it. Subsequently, the complainants report that they were raped on camera, humiliated and tortured by filming degrading scenes. Hair analysis also shows that some of them were drugged without their knowledge.

Women were also deceived when they asked for videos posted online to be deleted.4) Victims report significant psychological difficulties after the filming. Some tried to take legal action as early as 2017, but the police did not act: warnings in Toulouse, Brignoles, Les Andelys and Reims (where Julien D. lived) were not followed up.5

At the end of the investigation in July 2023, seventeen people (producers, directors and actors) were charged with rape (often committed as part of a group), human trafficking, aggravated pimping, and hidden labour. and concealed labour.6) Several have been in preventive detention since 2020.

The trial will be held in summer 2024.7

As a result of the evidence highlighted by the investigation, the French Senate has produced a report entitled “L’Enfer du décor” (Hell behind the curtains).8

The findings clearly show that pornography is a system of violence against women. Subsequently, a resolution was signed by 255 senators (making it the most signed senate text of the French Fifth Republic) stating that the fight against pornographic violence should be prioritised. The resolution was unanimously adopted in a public session on 1 March 2023.

For the civil parties in the cases, every step of the way is a struggle. Plaintiffs do not always have the money to travel to Paris for interviews, hearings and expertise on the case. Many are traumatised and live in very precarious situations due to the physical and psychological effects of the violence they suffered. Moreover, the films are still available online. Despite countless attempts, it has proved impossible to have them deleted.

Many women are threatened or are recognised and harassed on the street. They experience both a social death and an ongoing fear that loved ones, families or colleagues will accidentally see the films. The difficulties they go through make it extremely difficult for more victims to come forward. This exposure highlights a failure of the justice system for women who are victims of violence.

Ultimately, the word pornography hides an organised global criminal system. In the videos we can see real people being subjected to humiliating and degrading acts, such as ejaculation on the face, spitting on the face, urinating or defecating on the victim.

This kind of violence is the norm: it’s what the industry calls ‘mainstream’ porn, with content showing extreme violence where women are bound, whipped, strangled to suffocation, beaten… Women are muzzled to force them to keep their mouths open and are orally penetrated without restriction. Women are given electric shocks. In any other context, this is considered torture. However, in this context, it means that international criminal networks that could be held accountable under the existing legal framework can get away with offences in the name of freedom of expression.

EU Member States, including France and Sweden, are using the “freedom of expression” argument to limit the potential protection of women and girls from online violence, particularly the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, in the proposed directive on violence against women and girls currently under discussion in the EU institutions.

The EU Council of Ministers, representing the “interests” of the Member States, has included amendments to Articles 7 to 10 of the proposed directive aimed at tackling online violence against women. These amendments significantly limit the criminalisation of non-consensual use of intimate images, stalking and expression of hatred online.

The condition of ‘serious harm’ to the victim was added, as was the condition that the offence be ‘public’, meaning that acts in private groups or forums and online pay sites will not be included. Finally, both the reasoning and legal text now state that criminalising these types of online sexual violence must be balanced with freedom of expression, academic considerations, art and science.

Freedom of expression is not an absolute right. The European Convention on Human Rights states that it can be restricted in a democratic society for legitimate purposes, such as protecting the rights and reputation of others. In the case of defamation lawsuits against survivors of sexual violence condemning the perpetrator, freedom of expression is not used as a shield. This highlights a very dangerous paradigm shift of both approach and culture.

Traditionally, the law only protects speech that is consistent with a humanistic social contract, not hate speech. In European legal culture, freedom of expression was traditionally a right that protected the weak against the strong. This right is now mobilised in the war against women.

Pornography is an attack on the fundamental rights of all women. Violence is a natural part of its economic function as the content must constantly “surprise and shock” the consumer.

Pornography has been condemned and fought in every wave of the fight for women’s rights. After the women’s liberation movement of the 1970s, feminist movements gave a voice to victims who testified about rape, kidnapping, violence and sexual trafficking. We have known this for decades. It is high time to fight. It is happening now. What we are seeing is a systematic, global violence that requires a global resistance.

As a general policy response, we call for the reaffirmation of the fundamental principles on which our society is based: the rejection of hatred and violence, and an explicit respect for human dignity. Unlimited freedom for pornocrats means trampling on the rights of the most vulnerable and discriminated against in our society.

In France, decision-makers, especially senators, have been crucial to the progress achieved so far. It takes courage to take a stand against something that has become so normalised. We expect Swedish decision-makers to be brave too. It is time for Sweden to stand on the right side of history in this matter as well.

Source: https://www.parabol.press/porrindustrin-pa-de-atalades-bank/

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Geweld en verkrachting in Franse porno-industrie, ‘maar pornoverbod geen oplossing’

  • Frank Renoutcorrespondent Frankrijk, NOS

In Frankrijk is een grootschalig en breed gedragen offensief gestart tegen misstanden in de porno-industrie. Het gaat onder meer om geweld, verkrachting en seks met minderjarigen.

De Franse Senaat sprak zes maanden lang met pornoproducenten, actrices en experts. Het resultaat was een snoeihard rapport van 200 pagina’s. De Franse politie speurde online naar daders en slachtoffers en pakte mensen op. Justitie deed onderzoek en kwam met officiële aanklachten.

Meer dan twintig mannen – pornoproducenten en -acteurs – zijn inmiddels in staat van beschuldiging gesteld. Een deel van hen werd in preventieve hechtenis genomen, in afwachting van een proces. Meer dan zestig ex-pornoactrices hebben aanklachten tegen de mannen ingediend.

Seksueel geweld

“De verdachten worden beschuldigd van verkrachting, aanzetten tot prostitutie, mensenhandel en in één geval: marteling”, vertelt Céline Piques van de feministische organisatie Osez le Féminisme. “Het is echt uniek wat er gebeurt, voor Frankrijk en Europa, maar misschien wel in de hele wereld.”

‘Camille’ werd als porno-actrice slachtoffer van verkrachting. Ze vertelt anoniem hoe ze in de pornowereld belandde, en hoe ze daar werd misbruikt:

‘Ik zei nee, maar ze hielden me vast en dwongen me’

De aanleiding voor veel van de initiatieven ligt bij een boek van journalist Robin d’Angelo. Hij werkte ruim een jaar undercover op de filmsets van pornobedrijven. En hij was naar eigen zeggen geschokt door de hoeveelheid geweld die hij zag. Zijn boek verscheen in 2018, toen de MeToo-beweging volop gaande was. Seksueel geweld kwam daardoor hoog op de agenda te staan, ook in Frankrijk.

Feministische organisaties stapten met het boek naar Justitie. Alles stond zwart-op-wit, d’Angelo had met eigen ogen misdrijven gezien en daarom was vervolging nodig, zei onder meer Osez le Féminisme.

“Er is volop bewijs van misdrijven. Want veel van die strafbare feiten in de porno zijn gewoon te zien: de video’s circuleren nog steeds op internet”, zegt Céline Piques.

“In zo’n 90 procent van de pornofilms die wij hebben bestudeerd, wordt geweld gebruikt.” – Senator Laurence Rossignol

De Franse politie, en met name de cybercrime-afdeling, ging aan het werk. Twee Franse pornoproducenten kwamen in het vizier. Producent Pascal Ollitrault werd eind 2020 in voorlopige hechtenis genomen. Hij wordt verdacht van verkrachting en prostitutie.

In juni van dit jaar werd oprichter Michel Piron van de pornosite Jacquie et Michel in staat van beschuldiging gesteld. Hij zou vrouwen voorafgaand en tijdens opnames gedwongen hebben tot seksuele handelingen waarmee ze niet instemden. In totaal zitten ruim twintig mannen in de beklaagdenbank. Een proces wordt op zijn vroegst volgend jaar verwacht.

Valse voorwendselen

“Bijna eenderde van al het internetverkeer is porno. En in zo’n 90 procent van de pornofilms die wij hebben bestudeerd, wordt geweld gebruikt”, vertelt senator Laurence Rossignol. Zij deed mee aan het onderzoek van de Franse Eerste Kamer naar de misstanden.

Vaak worden vrouwen onder valse voorwendselen binnengehaald als actrice. Er wordt bijvoorbeeld beloofd dat de film alleen voor een beperkt publiek is, terwijl de beelden daarna wereldwijd via pornosites te zien zijn. Eenmaal op de filmset moeten de vrouwen vaak doen wat hen wordt opgedragen. Verzet of protest heeft geen zin: de vrouwen worden dan met fysiek geweld gedwongen, blijkt uit het senaatsrapport. Actrices die achteraf klagen worden bedreigd en geïntimideerd.

Geen verbod

“Pornofilms zijn ook steeds gewelddadiger geworden”, zegt Rossignol. “Pornoproducenten willen hun publiek tevreden houden. Maar de pornoconsumenten hebben steeds nieuwe kicks nodig om opgewonden te raken. Daarom worden filmscènes gewelddadiger gemaakt.”

In Frankrijk kijken per maand zo’n 19 miljoen mensen online naar porno: dat is bijna een derde van de bevolking. Daaronder vallen ook 1,2 miljoen kinderen jonger dan 15. “Kinderen kunnen getraumatiseerd raken, ze kunnen gewelddadig of risicogedrag gaan vertonen, en ze kunnen een misvormd beeld van seksualiteit krijgen”, aldus het senaatsrapport.

Door critici wordt nogal eens gepleit voor een algeheel verbod op pornografie. Maar Osez le Féminisme en senator Rossignol pleiten daar niet voor. “De wet moet gewoon worden toegepast”, zegt Céline Piques. “Als bij filmopnames strafbare feiten worden begaan, denk aan verkrachting of seks met minderjarigen, dan kan dat gewoon met de huidige strafrechtelijke middelen worden aangepakt.”

Open brief

Door de verschillende onderzoeken is de Franse porno-industrie in het defensief gedrongen. De grote pornoproducent Dorcel kwam met een ‘gedragscode’ voor iedereen op de filmset. Daarin staat bijvoorbeeld dat bij gefilmde seksuele handelingen altijd sprake moet zijn van wederzijdse instemming van de deelnemende partijen.

Een collectief van onder andere pornoproducenten en -actrices kwam vorige maand met een open brief in de krant Le Monde. “Pornografie is niet per definitie altijd crimineel”, schreven zij. “Als sekswerkers zijn wij ervan overtuigd dat het mogelijk is om op een verantwoorde wijze kwaliteitsporno te maken. Een verbod op porno is geen oplossing.”

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Jacquie and Michel: A former ministerial adviser who became a porn actor, involved in a dark affair

Published on June 28, 2022 – 1:40 p.m.

Control, rape and violence: we are far from the bonhomie claimed by the amateur porn site Jacquie et Michel. In the sights of justice, the boss is faced with sordid stories by several women revealed in “Le Parisien” and in “Le Monde”. A name also surfaces, that of Rick Angel, porn actor, formerly ministerial adviser…

Presented as a human-sized business of amateur porn under the sign of good humour, another face of Jacquie and Michel is revealed in this month of June. The details of the charges revealed by Le Parisien paint a very bleak picture of Michel Piron’s success story . In Le Monde , the stories are also shocking. Some plaintiffs have delivered their experience, far from consented debauchery. Corinne’s story is one of them and involves a former UMP adviser who was under the tutelage of Michèle Alliot-Marie, known as Rick Angel…

Recently divorced, Corinne, mother of two children, was manipulated ten years ago by a “lover boy” named Bastien, a recruiter who seduces emotionally fragile women to train them in prostitution or pornographic filming like ” proof of love”. His romantic date turns into a nightmare, reports Le Monde : ” On the platform of Montparnasse station, Michel Piron is waiting for him with Rick Angel, former technical adviser to the Ministry of the Interior at the time of Michèle Alliot-Marie, become a porn producer. As soon as she gets off the train, they film her, make her show her underwear in front of everyone. Arrived at the hotel, Corinne asks to contact Bastien, she wants to wait for him. Michel Piron reassures her,

The situation degenerates in the room, Corinne asks to leave but Michel would have caught up with her. ” Michel’s wife intervenes to tell him that Corinne is in pain” , specifies Le Monde. She stays alone at night, terrified. Then the video is put online without her having been paid, her professional entourage recognizes her in it and she loses permanent custody of her children. “ My brother called Michel Piron to tell him that I had lost everything because of him, that I had suicidal thoughts ,” she says daily.

Who is this Rick Angel? It is the stage name of a former ministerial adviser under Nicolas Sarkozy , a graduate of Sciences-Po Grenoble in 1996, adhering to the RPR. Very careerist, he rose through the ranks until he received a call from Alain Marleix’s chief of staff in 2008 who ” announced to him that they had discovered [his] porn films and that this posed a problem for Michèle Alliot -Marie, [his] supervisory minister [Minister of the Interior from 2007 to 2009]”, we read in The Obs . Which led to his dismissal three days later and the end of all political activity since, to devote himself to porn as an actor and producer.

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Jacquie and Michel: a former politician who became a porn actor at the heart of the scandal

Jacquie and Michel: a former politician who became a porn actor at the heart of the scandal

Posted by Mia on June 28, 2022 at 7:31 PM, https://www.letribunaldunet.fr/
Here is a new scandal which bursts in the industry of the sex. Already that the owner of the site Jacquie and Michel is accused in cases of rape , it is the turn of an actor in the middle to soak in a dark story. Indeed, a porn actor from the group, also a former political adviser to the UMP , is now accused of having published a sexual video of a woman without her consent . Here is the chilling testimony of the victim.

 

Michel Piron and Rick Angel: the two executioners of a woman

New blow for Jacquie and Michel . After the resignation of the boss of the site and the cessation of broadcasting on Canal + , another case affects the brand. Indeed, the media Le Parisien has just revealed the testimony of a woman . A chilling testimony that would relate facts of prostitution and porn shootings without consent. The victim, called Corinne by the media, would have experienced the worst with a porn actor from Jacquie and Michel, incidentally a former political adviser .

A former adviser under Nicolas Sarkozy turned porn actor

In the hotel room, things escalate very quickly. Corinne, seeing that Bastien did not arrive, decides to leave the room . She didn’t want to stay with the two unknown men. In order to prevent him from fleeing, Michel Piron would then have hit him . Subsequently, Corinne therefore stayed the night in the room, for fear of leaving the premises .

The next day, Michel Piron and Rick Angel reportedly posted a video of her on the porn site . “  My brother called Michel Piron to tell him that I had lost everything because of him, that I had suicidal thoughts  ,” she revealed in the French media. Corinne would not have received any payment for this filming, her colleagues would even have recognized her on the site and she would have ended up losing custody of her children .

In these terrible accusations, we seem to know one of the kidnappers: Michel Piron, director of Jacquie et Michel. On the other hand, we did not know the one who was called Rick Angel . Know that Rick Angel would be the stage name of a former political adviser , turned porn actor. He would have served as a ministerial adviser under Nicolas Sarkozy . He would have started his career in pornography while he was still in politics. Finally, he would have left the middle to devote himself to his acting career in 2009.

 

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Understand Everything About The Survey On The “Jacquie Et Michel” Porn Site

Understand Everything About The Survey On The “Jacquie Et Michel” Porn Site

16-6-2022 18:49:46

The owner of the “Jacquie et Michel” site was placed in police custody on Tuesday in the investigation opened in July 2020 in Paris for “rape and pimping”



  • The owner of the “Jacquie et Michel” site, Michel Piron, and four other people were placed in police custody on Tuesday in the investigation opened in July 2020 in Paris for “rape and pimping”.
  • “Jacquie et Michel” is a group born in 1999 and which based its success on the purchase of amateur videos at low cost in France.It announced 15 million euros in turnover in 2016.
  • Back to the “Jacquie et Michel” affair, a thunderclap in the amateur porn industry.

For a year, exceptional court cases have forced French porn to react and change its practices, a difficult step for an environment where consent is sometimes an abstract notion.

At the center of this file, the pornographic site “Jacquie et Michel”, currently under investigation for “rape” and “pimping”, and the sprawling case targeting the practices of “French Bukkake”.

A platform that offers extremely violent videos featuring young women often making their debut in the industry.

It would be the first time in France that porn actors have been prosecuted for “rape”.

While this Tuesday, the owner of “Jacquie et Michel” was placed in police custody,

20 Minutes

takes stock of this case which is shaking the amateur porn industry.

“Jacquie and Michel”, what is it?

“Jacquie et Michel” is a group born in 1999 and which based its success on the purchase of amateur videos at low cost in France.

The group, which notably owns the pornographic site in its name, announced a turnover of 15 million euros in 2016. “Jacquie et Michel” gradually professionalized its production, to come to now compete with the Dorcel group and ranks among the leaders of the pornographic industry.

Where are we with the investigation for “rape and pimping” concerning him?

The owner of the “Jacquie et Michel” site, Michel Piron, and four other people were taken into custody on Tuesday in the investigation for “rape and pimping”.

Nicolas Cellupica, the lawyer for the Arès group, chaired by Michel Piron and owner of the famous eponymous pornographic site, announced the placement in police custody of his 64-year-old client as well as his wife, Araceli, aged 60.

Michel Piron is retained in particular for “sexual assault” as well as for complicity in several offenses, including “aggravated rape”, “aggravated pimping” and “trafficking in human beings”, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.

Three men, presented as “actors” by a source close to the case, are in particular in police custody for “aggravated rape or in a meeting”, “trafficking in human beings” or even “pimping”, still according to the prosecution.

When was the investigation?

The Paris public prosecutor’s office launched this investigation in July 2020 for “rape and pimping”, entrusted to the 3rd district of the Paris judicial police, after a report sent by Dare feminism, the Effronté-es and the movement of the Nest.

These three associations relayed the testimonies of several actresses.

In essence, these ensure that many actresses are forced to perform “unconventional and painful” sexual practices when they are not consenting.

And that they then undergo the dissemination of their image, even of their identity, without having the slightest control over this dissemination.

“This is why we qualify pornography as an act of torture and barbarism”, summed up

Claire Quidet, president of the Mouvement du Nid, in this description at

20 Minutes .

The starting point of this whole affair?

The broadcast by the Konbini site, in February 2020, of the testimony of two actresses recounting having undergone sexual acts for which they were not prepared.

According to the prosecution, “the procedure has seven complainants” to date.

The fact remains that the platform, popularized by the formula “We say thank you who?

is just the tree that hides a gigantic forest of other porn sites on which the videos are also distributed in order to multiply the income triggered by each viewing.

Another survey, conducted in Paris since 2020, thus targets the practices of the “French Bukkake” platform.

At least 12 people, including the producers nicknamed Pascal OP and Mat Hadix, are being prosecuted in this case, exceptional in its scope and open for “aggravated human trafficking”, “rape in a meeting” or “aggravated pimping”.

Since then, investigators have identified around fifty victims.

What the law says ?

This is a subject that still angers in the porn industry: the distinction between “professional” and “amateur”.

Following revelations about violence in the sector, French platforms such as “Dorcel” or “Jacquie et Michel” announced in November 2020 their desire to adopt ethical and deontological charters.

The fact remains that on Tuesday, at the announcement of the placement in police custody of his client, Michel Piron’s lawyer again hammered home that “pornography had never been equated with prostitution: a porn actress is not a prostitute and a producer or broadcaster is not a pimp”.

The porn industry is a “lawless” zone, according to Dare Feminism https://t.co/ENjTS4ILfh

— 20 Minutes (@20Minutes) January 24

This article was written by 20 minutes and translated from French, I don’t own any of the content.

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