The initiative comes from the Inner Wheel service club in Colmar. Friday, November 25, date of this “international day for the fight against violence against women”, we will be able to see butterfly vision a Ukrainian film screened at the Cannes Film Festival last May as part of the “Un certain regard” selection.
“The female body has always been a means of pressure”
The guests of the debate which will follow – moderated by Blandine Parmentier-Jacquey, president of the club-service Colmarien – will be Estelle Pierrat, head of service of the SAVS (service of accompaniment to the social life) of the Sunflowers institution in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines and Benoit Wehrlé, head of victim support service at the Colmar association Espoir.
What motivated Inner Wheel to organize this evening?
Blandine Parmentier-Jacquey: “Inner Wheel being an exclusively female service club, this theme can only appeal to us. Especially since we have already been able to provide assistance to both services. We financed an exhibition of portraits of migrant women welcomed at Les Tournesols, and financed for Espoir emergency backpacks with toiletries for women fleeing their homes. »
Why the choice of this film, which speaks of a very particular situation and which fortunately we do not live in France, that of a female soldier and hostage?
B. P.-J.: “The choice was made nationally. Beyond the context of war, it is above all a question of the difficult path of reconstruction of a woman after the traumas she has suffered. »
What is the work of the two services, Hope and Sunflowers, towards women victims of violence?
Benoit Wehrle: “The victim support service accompanies all types of victims, whether theft, robbery or violence. And we support them at all levels: legal, social, administrative, psychological… Of the 1,800 to 2,000 people we receive each year, 60 to 70% are women victims of domestic violence. »
Estelle Pierrat: Our SAVS comprises two overlapping entities: emergency accommodation for asylum seekers (HUDA) and Au Vif, emergency accommodation for victims of domestic violence. Of the 65 asylum seekers – mostly Afghan, African and Eastern European – a third are women. And 100% of these women, if they are isolated, have been victims of violence: family, conjugal, clan, rape, excision, forced marriage, witchcraft…
Women’s bodies have always been a means of pressure. In a war, they take twice as much as men because they are systematically raped.
Au Vif accommodates women from all walks of life and accompanies them, like Espoir, throughout the procedure to get out of it, it is the principle of “non abandonment”. They are accommodated in independent accommodation, this allows them – and obliges them – to have a normal life, not to remain in the role of victim.
The silence of shame
What are the specific problems of these women?
EPs and BWs: “Violence takes many forms, physical, psychological, economic… Often they don’t have a job and are therefore without resources. This is often one of the reasons why they are reluctant to leave. This generates shame in the face of loved ones who do not understand that they are staying. There is also the question of the future of the children. And, among women of a certain social level, the vision of the decline represented by the fact of having to live on social assistance. »
The most difficult thing is the psychological reconstruction…
ER and BW: ” Absolutely. This is why it is essential that we are there to listen to them without judging them, it is the key for them to be able to rebuild themselves. Their silence is played out on two levels: that of these years to endure without daring to say anything; and that of the shame of telling, especially when it comes to rapes. The shame can be such that some prefer to go back to their husband rather than talk about it. »
Friday 25 November at 8 p.m., CGR cinema in Colmar. Portraits of asylum seekers from Les Tournesols will be exhibited. Admission €15, for the benefit of Espoir and Les Tournesols.
We wish to give thanks to the writer of this write-up for this outstanding material
Colmar. Violence against women: a screening-debate on Friday at the CGR
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