Incest, the forgotten domination: thinking beyond the penal response?

Each year, nearly 160,000 children are victims of sexual violence in France, primarily within the family context, as established by the CIVISE report (2023). This same report also emphasizes that a significant portion of reports and complaints are closed without follow-up, thus revealing the limitations of the judicial response. Given the scale of these findings, the criminal response, long considered the central tool for recognition and reparation, cannot be viewed as an exclusive solution. 

Organized on the occasion of the presentation of Œdipe Roi, directed by Eddy D’aranjo, this panel discussion proposes to bring together the perspectives of the guests in order to examine the limits of the judicial treatment of incest: what can — and what cannot — criminal law do? Can we consider other modes of action, combining prevention, child protection, and support mechanisms, particularly through activist and alternative approaches?

Speakers: 

Edouard Durand, Children's Judge. Edouard Durand has been a children's judge for many years. He led the work of the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (CIIVISE) from 2021 to 2023. He has notably published 160,000 Children, Sexual Violence and Social Denial (Tracts Gallimard, 2024) and Your Rights and Your Needs Matter, illustrated by Mai Lan Chapiron (La Martinière Jeunesse, 2025). 

Mai Lan Chapiron, artist committed to child protection and founder of the Mille Miettes association. Mai Lan Chapiron is a French artist, composer, singer, and illustrator. In 2021, she created Le Loup, a prevention tool against sexual violence aimed at children, inspired by her own experience. This project quickly became a reference in France. Since then, she has devoted her time to this cause that drives her. She creates new tools and founded the Mille Miettes association, dedicated to prevention, particularly in schools.

Julie Doyon, historian, senior lecturer in early modern history at the University of Lyon 2 (LARHRA, UMR 5190). As part of her research on intrafamily violence in the early modern period, including incest, she focuses on the forms and stakes of their public restitution. Book: A.-E. Demartini, J. Doyon, L. Le Caisne (eds.), Speaking, Hearing and Judging Incest. From the Middle Ages to the Present Day, Paris, Seuil, 2024. 

Romane Brisard, independent investigative journalist. Romane specializes in violence against women and children, particularly within families. For five years, she investigated the judicial treatment of incest in order to document an institutional violence that is still poorly documented: the obligation imposed on children to maintain ties with their alleged abuser, often the father, leading some mothers to flee France to protect them. This long-term work has resulted in, among other things, an investigative book, Inceste d'État (Stock, October 2025), as well as the documentary podcast Mères en cavale  (Louie Media). Romane publishes written investigations (Libération, Mediapart, Le Canard enchaîné), produces major radio reports (France Inter), and video reports (TF1, Loopsider, …). 

Moderation: Alison Bouffet, teacher and PhD in political philosophy. Alison works on state construction, normativity and exclusions, and more particularly on questions of immigration, nationalism and foreignness.

Photographs: Edouard Durand © Jerome Panconi / Mai Lan Chapiron © Marie-Lou Chabert / Julie Doyon © DR / Romane Brisard

The Theatre bookshop will be open before and after the event.