‘Dignity and integrity’: France rocked by government disability rape scandal

A minister in Emmanuel Macron’s new government has denied claims that he raped two women, on the grounds that his physical disability would make it impossible for him to sexually assault anyone.

Damien Abad, the French president’s newly appointed minister for solidarity and disabled people, released a statement denying the allegation after two women accused him of raping them in 2010 and 2011.

The 42-year-old, who suffers from a disorder called arthrogryposis that affects his limbs, said he contests “with the greatest force the accusations against me”, adding: “All the sexual relations I have had in my life have always been consenting.”

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‘Complete consent’

Abad is now facing “intense scrutiny” after the allegations surfaced in an investigation published by French news outlet Mediapart, Politico reported. The claims also “cast a shadow” over the first meeting of Macron’s new cabinet, which took place on Monday.

One of the women alleged that she went for dinner with Abad in October 2010, drank a glass of champagne and woke up in a hotel room in her underwear with him. The second, who was unknown to the first, claimed she spent an evening with him in 2011 and consented to having sex but then asked him to stop, which he failed to do.

Responding to the claims, Abad said that he has “always avoided making an issue of my disability” but was “forced to do it now to defend myself and even talk about intimate matters in detail to explain that the acts I am accused of were materially impossible”.

Arthrogryposis “is a term describing a number of conditions that affect the joints”, according to Johns Hopkins University. It often affects “both the arms and legs”, as in the case of Abad, and is “typically discovered in utero or at birth”.

Symptoms include “muscle contractures” of joints “in the wrist, hand, elbow and shoulder on either side of the body”, as well as “lower extremity involvement” including “the hips, knees and ankles”.

“There is also muscle weakness throughout the body,” the university said, while “spine curvature may develop in some patients”.

Abad’s defence rests on his claim that “the acts he was accused of were implausible” as “he did not have the physical ability to perform them”, The New York Times (NYT) said. His statement described how he “could not have sex” without a partner’s “full and complete consent”.

“My dignity and integrity have been attacked,” he said. “I have never raped a single woman in my life. To address these subjects in public is extremely painful for me so now I am going to concentrate on my job as a minister.”

Asked days later by reporters if he would resign, he said: “Should an innocent man resign? I don’t believe so.”

National reckoning

The allegations against Abad come “amid a growing reckoning over sexism and sexual abuse by French political figures”, the NYT reported. The claim has also fed “longstanding recriminations” against Macron by feminist groups who “accuse him of not living up to his vow to make crimes against women one of his top priorities”.

Nous Toutes, a feminist collective, responded by posting on Facebook: “How many men accused of rape are we going to see appointed under this term?”

The claims also come soon after a report by The High Council for Gender Equality, an official watchdog, that stated the French “political world still hasn’t experienced a real #MeToo”, despite a string of scandals in recent years.

Asked whether she believed Abad should step down, France’s new Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne told reporters that she was “obviously” not “aware” of the allegations before they appeared in Mediapart.

“If there are new elements, if the case is brought before the courts again, we will draw all the consequences of this decision,” she added.

Asked whether Macron was aware of the allegations before they surfaced in the media, new government spokesperson Olivia Grégoire said “to my knowledge, no member of the government was aware of these facts”.

Pushed on whether his position was under threat, she added: “The issue here is the establishment of the truth. It is for the justice system to establish the truth. It is not up to me, and I don’t think it is up to you either.”