A Genealogy of the Controversies on the Repression of Sexual Violence

Our article describes the relationship between the claims brought by feminist movements of the 1970s in cases of sexual violence and critics of the criminal justice brought by these movements and other groups, including the movement of prisoners. Two moments are analyzed. In the early 1970s, the common cause of very different movements regarding the law is the priority given to the defense against forms of repression and disciplinary institutions. After 1975, the claims of feminist movements and prisoners movements diverge and even oppose. Indeed the ones ask for offensive transformations of the law enforcement of rape whereas the others fight against penal reforms imposed by the government and, more specifically, against long sentences.