On September 13-14, protesters in Paris and other major cities in France voiced their solidarity for Gisèle Pélicot, a women whose husband, Dominique Pélicot, is on trial for raping his wife and invited other men to do so. As per the latest reporting, Dominique said in court that “I am a rapist just like all the others in this room.”

Around the same time in India, protests are ongoing over outrage after a 31 year old medical trainee (her name has not been revealed) was raped and later died in a hospital. This doctor’s tragedy is one of many, as a woman gets raped every 16 minutes in India.

These incidents illustrate the enduring difficulties for women in prosecuting sexual violence and crimes, even after the #MeToo Movement.

The term “MeToo,” was originally coined by activist Tarana Burke in 2006, but it gained attention in 2017 after American actress Alyssa Milano urged women to share their experiences of sexual assault/violence/harassment on social media, in the context of growing allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Since then, the #MeToo Movement expanded internationally, such as in South Korea, Iran, and Argentina, accusing prominent celebrities, politicians, and other powerful men of sexual harassment and/or rape.

Likewise, India and France have also been impacted by the #MeToo Movement. In 2017, New York based French journalist Sandra Muller coined the term, #balancetonporc, in which many women in France have posted their experiences of harassment on social media. However, the impact in France has been quite different from the US. In 2018, French actress Catherine Deneuve and 100 other women wrote an open letter to Le Monde, criticizing the overreach of #MeToo. In the letter, Deneuve wrote that “Rape is a crime. But insistent or clumsy flirting is not a crime, nor is gallantry a chauvinist aggression.” Importantly, one of the arguments made is that the leaders of #MeToo and #Balancetonporc serves the interests of “religious extremists.” When French actor Gérard Depardieu was accused of sexual harassment, over 50 celebrities signed an open letter in support of him. French President Emmanuel Macron praised Depardieu for making “France proud.”

Furthermore, as the current trial of Pélicot illustrates, the concept of “consent” is not included in the definition of rape. Instead, “France, like a majority of European countries, uses coercion-based laws.” As such “rape is defined in French law by sexual penetration through either violence, constraint, threat or surprise with the burden of proof being the same for minors and adult victims.” In fact, it was only in 2021 that France legally stated that crimes against 15 year old are considered rape.

In India, the #MeToo Movement took shape when actress Tanushree Dutta accused Nana Patekar of sexual harassment during a film shoot in 2008. According to a report made public in August 2024, sexual harassment in the Malayalam film industry. Prominent individuals like director Ranjith have been accused of inappropriate behavior by actress Srelekha Mitra. However, little progress has been made in holding the perpetrators accountable. In fact, Indian cinema has played a huge role in promoting misogynistic perceptions towards women, such as the way they are portrayed in film songs, or “item songs” as they are called. Very often, “the lyrics of item songs often compare women to consumable objects like tandoori murgi, a chicken dish, or Afghan jalebi, a sweet dessert.”

More broadly, most Indian movies promote the narrative of the “male savior” of helping women in dangerous situations, which essentially serves to emphasize that upholding a “women’s honour” is more important than critiquing the crime against the woman. Additionally, most men continue to hold regressive attitudes by blaming women for wearing “provocative clothing.” According to the Pew Research Center, only 51% percent of men think that teaching boys to respect women is essential to improving women’s safety.

Likewise, there continues to be a lack of legal protection. While its 2023 changes to the penal code did impose harsher punishments for perpetrators, it nevertheless said that “sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his wife, the wife not being under 18 years of age, is not rape.”

While differences exist between India and France in terms of cultural attitudes and legal protections for women, the ongoing protests in both countries are indicative of how crimes against women continue worldwide, and the perpetrators are largely left unpunished.